Elements of Change
by hiddenwriterspirit
Summary: Scott vs Norse; Vikings vs Celts; Two unlikely heroes must unite to settle the difference, and mend the bond, torn by pride. Simple How to Train Your Dragon and Brave crossover. Enjoy or not as you so desire. Note: I haven't done much research on Norse or Celtic history/mythology. No flaming for inaccuracy please.
1. Chapter 1

**Set sail**

There was noise everywhere that fateful day. Men and women tumbled all over the docks filling one large ship with weapons and supplies. The tiny island surrounded by cold ocean bustled with activity, everyone excited for the send off.

Stoick, chief of the small village paced the dock, wondering if they'd ever come. This was the first time he'd be taking his son off the island, and it'd be the first time in years that they'd be visiting the homelands in years. Stoick's brother, Spitelout had gone just a few weeks before to scout the land. Stoick scanned the island once more, searching for his toothpick of a son.

He jumped when a hand placed itself on his shoulder.

"It's alright, I'm sure he'll be here soon."

Stoick looked over to see his wife, Vahallarama trying to comfort him. She was smaller in stature than the other women in the village, which explained the minuscule son of his, but he still loved her more than anyone. Despite her petite size, she was strong in words and attitude.

The stressed chief gave a heavy sigh. "I sure hope so."

Soon, the word was given for the ships to set off in a couple minutes. Vahallarama boarded the largest ship, but just before Stoick was about to join her, two images came running down to the docks.

"WAIT!" the larger one screamed. Gobber, the blacksmith dragged a young, small boy to the ships, where he was set in front of his father.

Stoick just stood there with a scowl look on his face, his son purposefully trying to avoid meeting his eyes.

"Sorry, dad." the boy said quietly.

"Where were you?" asked Stoick, expecting a good answer.

The boy looked up a Gobber, who turned away and left to board the ship. He sighed, "I was out looking for a troll."

"A _troll_?" Stoick raised his eyebrows.

"Well, a couple of the other kids were talking about a troll in the woods, and I just thought I'd try to look for it, ya'know?"

Stoick raised his massive hands to his face, trying to convince himself that this was a good excuse for almost missing such an occasion.

"Well, there's no point in trying to lecture him out there." Vahallarama said, leaning over the side of the large ship, "Everyone get on board so we can get a move on."

Stoick nodded, then looked over to his distraught son. "Let's go, Hiccup."

**Out at Sea**

Hiccup could barely contain his excitement as soon as the tiny island of Berk was out of sight beyond the horizon. He ran up to the edge of the bow, trying to see if he could find where they were going before anyone else. Suddenly a thought came to his mind.

"Hey mom!" he called out behind him.

Vahallarama walked over to the bow where Hiccup was after she was done talking with the captain. "What is it?"

"Won't the mean dragons attack while we're gone?"

She smiled. "No dear. You see, every year the dragons don't come to our island for a couple weeks. It is that time this year now, so the dragons won't come."

"Why not?"

Vahallarama gave a puzzled look. "I'm not quite sure." She looked into her son's eyes. They seemed to be pleading with her to tell him. Hiccup was always more interested in learning things of the world rather than just going with them.

"Maybe one day you'll find out for us." she said giving him a comforting smile.

Hiccup beamed. He always enjoyed the encouragement of his mother. She was just about the only one in the village who would give it to him.

"Vahallarama..." called a deep, concerned voice.

Both she and Hiccup turned. Stoick was standing there in the midst of the men working. His head gave a slight movement backward, indicating he wished to speak with her in private. She simply nodded, and left with him below deck. Hiccup stayed at the bow, thinking of the new things he might see off the island.

Below deck, Gobber sat waiting for the chief and his wife. When they arrived, he brought out two small stools for them to sit.

"What's all this about?" Vahallarama said as she sat down.

Stoick sighed as he looked at Gobber, who simply nodded. After giving another sigh, he looked to Vahallarama. "It's about Hiccup."

"What about Hiccup?"

"Well, you know ever since he was born, he's been...different."

"And what's wrong with different?"

Stoick was a bit surprised to hear her say this. "Well, how can I trust the village to him if I don't know what he'll do with it? I don't even know what he's doing half the time."

"Well, he told you what he was doing this afternoon didn't he?"

"Yes, he did, but did you hear what he said?"

"Hiccup may have strange ideas, but he has ambition. Plus, he's still just a child, Stoick. Give him some time. Just wait, you'll wake up one day and find out he's turned into the best chief Berk has ever seen, different or not. And don't worry," she said, standing up, "I'll help to keep him on the right path."

She kissed his forehead and left. After she was back on the main deck, Stoick turned back to Gobber.

Gobber just shrugged his shoulders. "She basically summed it all up. You can't count your chickens before they're hatched. Just give the boy a bit of time."

Stoick sighed again, but as he opened his mouth to talk, one of the men opened the door to the main deck.

"Chief! You may want to get up here and see this!"

**Attack**

Hiccup started to get bored just sitting alone, but as he looked around, all he could see was sweaty men running around the deck. He once again looked out to the clear, open sea in front of him. His mind drifted to the dragons living near Berk. Perhaps they'd sail to where they lived. Hiccup shook his head. He remembered hearing his father say they lived in a never-ending mist surrounded by tall rocks.

As his innocent, childish mind wandered, he began to notice a small speck on the horizon. He focused in on the tiny silhouette, trying to figure out what it was. Perhaps it was land? Have they gotten to their destination already? He squinted his eyes harder. Soon he made out a sail...flags...

"Mom!" he called out, realizing she was back from below deck, "Look, a ship!"

She briskly walked up next to him as he pointed his finger to the other vessel sailing in the water. She squinted her eyes as Hiccup did before, and as it came closer, her eyes widened, recognizing the Celtic symbols on the flags.

She called to one of the men, and whispered in his ear. Afterward, he ran to below deck where the chief was, disbelief in his eyes. Soon, Stoick was where Hiccup and Vahallarama stood, and he stared at the strange ship.

"Gobber!" Stoick called, knowing his friend had followed him upstairs, "Get the men ready for battle."

"Wait," started Vahallarama, "We don't know if they're hostile. We haven't had much dealing with the Scotts in decades."

"Well, better safe than sorry." said Stoick, and he himself went to get ready.

Vahallarama turned to Hiccup, "You best get below deck, son."

Hiccup nodded, and jumped down the stairs, keeping the hatch slightly open so he could still see everything.

The ship slowly got closer, and as soon as they were parallel with their ship, Stoick began to speak very loudly.

"Heil*! What brings you across these waters?"

The entire deck was silent. Stoick's eyebrows furrowed, noticing something was wrong.

Suddenly the entire crew on the Scott's ship yelled a battle cry, and jumped onto Hiccup's boat. Everyone drew their swords, and a great battle commenced. The vikings tried to push the celts back as much as possible, but they were soon flooded with Scotts. Hiccups eyes widened to the amount of bloodshed. He'd seen the villagers fight dragons back on Berk, but to see them fighting other people was almost unbelievable. He could see his tiny, little mother in the battle, fighting alongside his massive father. The both the them almost in harmony as they fought.

The strength and skill of the vikings were enough to finally push them back to their own ship, and it became a two-ship battle. Eventually it was enough to send the Scotts off on their own ship. Everyone cheered, yelling at them, accepting victory. Hiccup, realizing it was over, came from below deck, and ran to his mother. He bent down and hugged him, knowing he'd never seen such violence before.

Unfortunately as the Scotts sailed away, the people of Berk could see them take out bows, and shoot arrows toward them. The cheers of the vikings quickly stopped at arrows rained down on them.

"Take cover!" yelled the chief, and everyone lifted their shields.

Screams of pain were heard as a few arrows fell to where a shield could not protect their large bodies.

"Cowards!" Stoick screamed at them as they sailed farther once the arrows had finished falling.

"Mom!" screamed a choked voice amiss the shouts of scorn. Stoick recognized it, and ran to where it came from.

Vahallarama lay on the deck, blood pouring out of her back where an arrow had hit her. Hiccup was cradling her head, not knowing what to do. She had used her heavy shield to protect Hiccup when the arrows fell, leaving her body exposed.

"Vahallarama..." Stoick whispered, taking her fragile body in his arms.

She looked up into his eyes, and placed a hand on his tear-dripping cheek. All she could do was mouth the words: _Take care of Hiccup..._

The entire ship was silent as the chief's wife slowly fell away into darkness.

**Return**

After the death of Vahallarama, the ship decided to go back to Berk to bury her body. They never did get to the homelands.

* * *

*An old Norse greeting to a group of men and women.


	2. Chapter 2

**Ten Years Later**

"Merida!" called the voice of a noble woman. A young, redhead girl turned over in her bed, tangling her frizzy hair.

"MERIDA!" called the voice again. A beautiful, slender woman strode into the small bedroom decorated with furs and weapons. "Merida, it's time to get up."

The girl groaned, and slowly sat up in her bed, her nightgown slightly slipping off her shoulder. She quickly squeezed her eyes shut as soon as her mother opened the window to let in the sunlight. "Mum..." she groaned, "too early..."

"Th' early bird gets the worm, Merida." stated the woman, "Now get up." and with that she pulled her covers off her daughter and helped her up to get dressed.

The girl named Merida slipped into her usual dark blue dress and headed downstairs with her mother for breakfast. Just before she closed the door, she looked over to her bow that was propped neatly against her chest at the end of her bed. Sighing, she closed the door without it. Ever since her adventure the year before, she promised herself to be more diligent to her mother's lessons, as her mother promised to respect her freedom.

The two of them went down the stone steps, one seemed to be gliding, the other bounding with her red hair bouncing up and down with each step. Halfway down, the woman in her green dress stopped and glared at her daughter, who gave a sigh, straightened her back, and walked as her mother did the rest of the way down.

As the got to the dining room, a large man was sitting at one end of the table, quietly eating his large portions. Three triplets with bright red hair, much like Merida, sat to the man's left, lining an entire side of the table.

"Mornin', Fergus." said the woman, kissing the man on the head as she walked by.

Merida sat herself down at the table, her mother sitting to her right, across the table from the King.

"Merida," started the woman, "today, we will be learning about etiquette."

Merida gave a long groan. She hated etiquette more than all the other lessons, but she took a deep breath, sat up straight, and let her mother lecture about how to eat, what to say for a dinner conversation, what to avoid, etc. etc. etc.

Quietly, she did as she was told, her father and brothers leaving the table eventually. Her body did everything that was to be expected, but her face gave a continual scowl.

Suddenly, as Merida was being told to never chew with her mouth open for the thousandth time, Maudie, the maid came bustling in.

"You Majesty," she started, walking over to Merida's mother, "A messenger from Lord Macintosh is requestin' an audience with ye."

"Lord Macintosh?" she said, standing up, "did he say what about?"

"No ma'am."

"Very well then. Merida, you are excused."

Excited, the bright rush of red hair ran up the stairs for her bow and quiver. "See ye later mum!" she called.

"Be careful! And be back after noon!" the Queen called after her.

Quickly, before her mother could change her mind, Merida ran out the back door and saddled her faithful steed and companion, Angus before riding off into the woods.

**Evening**

It was dinner time, and King Fergus was telling his nightly tale of the time he faced the dreaded bear, Mor'du. The three princes quietly ate their dinner, occasionally mocking their father, emphasizing the amount of times he's told the tale. The Queen paced the room, her food and another plate untouched.

"...his hide littered with th' weapons of fallen warriors. Ah drew my sword-"

"Oh, Fergus! Do you not care for your daughter at all?" she interrupted.

The puzzled King stopped. "Elinor, I'm sure she's fine! She's strong and she knows how te take care o' hersself."

"That's not what I meant!" Fergus gave her a puzzled look. Elinor sighed, "She's becomin' more rebellious as b'fore. I's like she's tryin' to avoid me."

"Ah, c'mon!" Fergus started. All of a sudden, a large bang of a door closing was heard through the hall. "See? Tha's probably her now."

Sure enough, there was Merida, dirty and exhausted from riding all day. She strolled in, and sat down at her place at the table. She started eating when her mother came up behind her.

They stood there in silence, a great tension building up between the two. King Fergus looked very awkward, and, not wanting to get mixed up in the mess, gestured to his sons to leave. They all quietly went out of the room, though they all agreed to leave the door slightly open to hear everything going on.

Convinced they were gone, Queen Elinor began to speak. "You're late."

"No. Ah'm not."

"Oh, you're not are you?"

"No, all ye said was t' come after noon. Well, i's after noon mum."

"You knew what I meant."

"So what if ah did?"

"Dear, I can't help but get the feelin' that you don't want t' be near me."

Merida quickly spun around in her chair, "Ah never said that!"

"Well, if that's not it, then what is? You've been actin' very strange for months now, an' I don't know what it is."

Merida lowered her head. "Neither do I..."

"Well, ye had better find out soon, lass. You spend more time by yourself than ever. Even during our lessons I feel you just go in a trance an' ignore everythin' I say."

Merida stood up, nearly knocking over her chair. "Ah jus' need some time t' think!"

"Think about what?" her mother called, chasing after the angry princess as she stormed off to her room. After she finally caught up to her, she grabbed her daughter's hand, keeping her from disappearing in her room. "Tell me what's wrong, and I'll help you!"

Merida pulled her hand away, but she didn't close her door. She just stood there, her massive hair covering her face.

Queen Elinor looked at her daughter. Never before had she seen her so emotional. "Merida..." she started.

Merida just ignored her, and slowly closed her door.

**Storm**

Life was never the same after the death of Vahallarama, but it had changed even more after the chief's son had made peace with the dragons living near Berk. Now it seemed everyone had a dragon, and a problem to go with it.

Hiccup was given the _wonderful_ duty of solving everyone's problems that has to do with a dragon, alongside all the other Hooligans of Berk.

The night was peaceful, but the same was not said for a certain large house at the top of a hill. Inside, a playful dragon bounded around the crossbeams, his annoyed owner trying to chase him. They crashed over beds, the fire pit and just about everything else.

Stoick sighed as he heard the noise coming up the road. He was already exhausted from the day, and he didn't feel like dealing with any more dragons. Once inside, he saw his only son pleading with his dragon as he held a viking helmet in his mouth. Seeing his father, Hiccup froze.

"Oh, hi dad."

Unfortunately, the dragon was less interested in the large man standing in the doorway, so he quickly jumped on Hiccup, toppling him over and leaped away to sit on the highest beam near the roof.

"C'mon!" Hiccup groaned. "We've already been through this!"

Stoick watched in silence as he watched his son chase his dragon all around the house again. He knew there wasn't much he could do, but he did wish his son would take more care of one of the few memories left of his deceased wife.

After Hiccup had finally gotten his helmet, he placed it on his bed, and looked down to his father, who had put the fire pit back together, and was sticking a large fish on a stick to cook it.

"Sorry dad. I made you some dinner. Its just a certain SOMEONE" he stared at his trusty dragon, Toothless, "knocked it over."

"That's alright, Hiccup." Stoick said quietly.

Hiccup was stunned. His father was never this quiet, nor was he ever this forgiving. Normally he would yell a bit before letting his son try to explain or fix whatever was wrong. Hiccup gave him a sideways glance, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Dad, are you okay?"

Stoick gave another heavy sigh, "I'm surprised you forgot."

Hiccup tried to look as innocent as ever. "Forget what?"

The large chief stood up, letting his fish cook over the flames. He turned to his son, looking in his eyes, searching to believe if he spoke the truth. However, all Hiccup could see through Stoick's eyes was sadness and tears.

"Today's the anniversary."

Hiccup was just about to ask: _The anniversary of what?_ when he remembered. Today was the day his mother died.

"Oh." was all Hiccup could say. But inside he was screaming at himself for being so busy and not remembering.

A long silence surrounded all of them. Stoick knew he couldn't yell at his son, after all, he'd been so busy and this was the first year with the dragons living at Berk. But he still felt a bit of disappointment that he couldn't remember.

Toothless, not understanding what was going on, quietly walked up next to Hiccup and nudged his arm. Hiccup patted his head, but as he looked back at his father, the guilt returned. He didn't know what to say to him. He decided to try to make his resolve as subtle as possible.

"Hey, Toothless," he said to his green-eyed friend, "would you like to meet my mother?"

Toothless only cocked his head, but Hiccup thought it was a good enough response to jump on his back and disappear into the darkness of the night.

After they were gone, Stoick sat down, closing his eyes. "Odin help me..."

Vahallarama's grave was located at the edge of the village, perfectly surrounded by trees so it couldn't be disturbed by dragons back when they were the enemy. It was dark and clouds began to block out the bright full moon, but Hiccup could still find the carefully placed grave, and he and Toothless managed to land only a few blocks away from the site. As the pair walked, Hiccup told the story of how his mother died, despite Toothless' lack in understanding him. Once they reached their destination, Hiccup just stood there, not saying a word. Toothless nudged him, expecting something to happen.

Hiccup simply smiled and gestured to the grave, "Toothless, meet Vahallarama the Fierce."

The dragon couldn't understand how a rock could be a viking's mother, but he slowly walked up to it, sniffed it for a moment, then licked it showing his condolences. He looked over at Hiccup, who smiled at the playful dragon. But it was at that moment the rider remembered something. Quickly, he pulled out a small booklet, filled with drawings he had done of the dragons around Berk, but this time he turned to a page he hadn't opened in a while.

The two of them stayed there for hours as Hiccup scribbled in the small leather-bound book. But as the night drew on, Toothless became restless, and the time came where he noticed something wrong. The wind began to blow harder, and more and more clouds came to cover what little light they had. He urgently nudged Hiccup, trying to get him to leave.

Oblivious to the change in climate, Hiccup shoved him back. "What is it?" But it soon became evident as a sharp wind cut through their small protection of trees, nearly knocking the skinny boy over.

Fear filling both of them, they ran away into the clearing, and Hiccup mounted the dragon, prepared for takeoff. But as they shot off into the sky, the harsh winds returned, and blew the both of them off the island. Hiccup began to panic. They tried their best to fight against mother nature, but soon it started raining as well, and instead of it being simply hard to see, it was now impossible to see for both him and the dragon. It wasn't long before lightning joined in, always followed by thunder.

Dragons were delicate creatures, and despite them having nerves of steel, never has one willingly flown off into a storm. Toothless' fear became terror, and soon, the boy couldn't control him any longer.

"C'mon, buddy. It'll be alright." He continuously tried to open Toothless' prosthetic, but as he did, the dragon closed its other fin, sending them flying into the sea.

"Toothless!" Hiccup tried to swim to the dragon, but it had been harder to maneuver in water ever since his own foot was replaced.

"Toothless!" he continued, but his calls were drowned out by the crashing waves and booming thunder.

Hiccup could only call out to his best friend one last time before he could no longer hear the roars of a scared dragon.

**Discovery**

Merida lifted her head to smell the salty sea air. She had decided to sneak out again, giving herself time to be out and alone. Though this time, she left Angus behind, letting him rest from all the times she made him run through the forest during the week.

She sighed as she trudged along the sandy shore, thinking about her argument with her mother only a few days before. She hadn't meant to be so blunt when she walked in for dinner, but...

She sighed again, and sat down to look at the open ocean. She imagined ships passing by, ships coming into the docks, ships floating away into the sky, even ships shrinking somewhere off into the distance.

_Wait a momen'_ She thought. There WAS something off in the distance. But it wasn't a ship, it was something much smaller. The current slowly brought it closer and closer, till she saw-

"Losh*! Is tha' a boy?" She jumped up and leaned her body closer to the water and squinted her eyes to see if she was wrong.

Realizing she wasn't, she dove into the ocean, water rushing all around her. After swimming 50 yards out, she reached out and grabbed the limp body. Her arms were soon becoming numb from the cold water, but she managed to drag the skinny boy to the shore before collapsing herself. She was out of breath, but she sat up to examine her discovery.

He was a rather skinny boy with messy, brown hair. His clothes indicated he was definitely not from around there, but she she continued to examine him, she noticed a point where his left leg stopped. She gasped and nearly fell backward. His foot was missing!

She quickly recollected herself, as it was not unnatural for her to see a missing leg. Her own father lost one of his legs in a mighty battle against the legendary bear Mor'du.

She leaned in closer to the seemingly dead body, cautious as ever as though he might leap up at her at any moment. The princess sighed once it was discovered that he was breathing, even it if was very weak. He needed help, and fast. Merida quickly took off her own well-knitted cloak and wrapped it around the unconscious boy, and carefully lifted him into her arms, making sure as to not jostle him too much. She cursed under her breath for a moment for not bringing Angus with her. Fortunately, the lack in muscle on the body matched his weight, and she was able to carry him with ease.

After one final adjustment, she carried the newcomer back home.

*A Scottish exclamation


	3. Chapter 3

**Care**

There was a buzz all around the castle. It was unnatural for the princess to bring anyone to the castle, let alone a nearly drowned boy with strange clothes, let alone a boy at all. Merida had left Maudie and other maids and nurses to tend to the boy as soon as they finally got him to a spare room as she herself was still soaking wet from the swim to rescue the lad. Soon, he was dried and left to rest as his breathing slowly went back to normal.

Those who were especially excited were each named Hamish, Hubert and Harris. They always loved new visitors, conscious or not. Their poor mother and father had to fight them off the boy as Merida came in the castle.

Queen Elinor, on the other hand, had no idea what to think as she saw her own daughter carrying a skinny, weak, half-soaked boy back home. She had always hoped that one day her daughter would be carried off by a nice young man, not necessarily the other way around.

Thankfully he was accepted by King Fergus, who took special interest and almost constantly stayed by the boy's side, eager for him to wake up.

Though it wasn't until a day and a half that his eyes finally opened.

**Awaken**

There was rain all around. Everything was wet. The rain became a lake, then the ocean. Wind blew from every direction, a rhythmic beating of wings coming faster. The wings were black, scaly and attached to a beast. It got closer, and closer, then-

_SCREEEEEEEE_

Hiccup awoke with a jolt, his eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling.

He sighed, _just a dream_, and sat up in his bed. But wait. Hiccup looked around. He wasn't in his usual hard, wooden bed, instead he was propped on a soft mattress, a thick, wool blanket sitting on his lap to keep him warm. His eyes searched the room, looking for something familiar. A small fireplace sat next to him, the fire died away to embers. The room was filled with furs and weapons for decoration, and a small window was at the other end of the room. Judging by the amount of light coming from it, Hiccup judged it to be close to noon.

He looked down to find he was not wearing his usual green tunic. Instead he wore a plain, blue, long-sleeved shirt, trimmed with two brass buttons. His dark green pants were also replaced by something that made the lost viking blush.

_Am I wearing a skirt?_ he thought, seeing the thick, carefully woven material wrapped around his waist, reaching just below his knees and supported by a small, brown belt.

He placed his head in his hands. _What happened?_ Then he remembered. The storm.

"Toothless!" he cried, remembering the last time he saw his friend, the poor dragon was being swept away by the sea. With eagerness to find his dragon he stood up quickly when-

WHUMP!

Hiccup was sprawled on the floor, his shoulder banging into the side of the bed. While grabbing his shoulder, he turned to look down, only to be even more surprised.

The prosthetic Gobber made for him was gone.

**Meeting**

"Hah!" Merida shouted, swinging her blade horizontally at her father who managed to block it with his own. The two of them decided to have a little sword practice in the courtyard before Merida's princess lesson of the day.

After blocking her attack, King Fergus lunged forward, forcing Merida to leap away just before having to block her father's next move. After pushing his sword away, she came back down with a vertical strike. Seeing this, he mustered much of his energy and returned her attack by swinging his sword up, and Merida's sword was knocked out of her hand.

Merida looked to her weapon for a moment, then got a better idea. At full speed she ran toward her father and tackled him to the ground. Apparently her brothers were watching them because it wasn't too long before they were there as well, jumping all over the burly man. They rolled all over the green grass, laughing till their stomachs hurt.

Unfortunately their fun was short lived as Queen Elinor came walking up, casting a shadow over the pile. Merida groaned, slowly getting up, knowing it was time for her , Merida was to be practicing her public speaking.

"Have fun!" the King giddily called out, still wrestling with the triplets on the ground.

Both Merida and the queen rolled their eyes, walking back inside the castle.

After a while of pinning and prying three energetic, young boys, Fergus gave a long sigh, signifying he was done. The boys realized this, and ran off to find something to eat.

The exhausted king stumbled into the castle, the thumping of his wooden peg on the stone floor echoing through the castle as he entered its massive doors. He decided to check on their little "visitor" one last time for the day, and headed upstairs. Still a bit giddy from the day's small event, he hummed a traditional tune his wife always loved to sing as he swung his arms to the beat of his steps. Turning the corner, he came to the desired door, but before he was able to grasp the handle, he heard a voice from behind it yell something followed by a loud thumping noise.

Cautiously, he opened the door, only to see the confused brown-haired boy rubbing his shoulder and looking at his missing foot.

"Yer awake!" the King cried, startling Hiccup, who hadn't realized he was no longer alone.

Next thing the viking knew, he was surrounded by all different kinds of people, many of whom help him back onto the bed where he could sit up. All of them kept asking him questions, most of which consisted of his health. The boy could barely keep up, not knowing who to answer first, so he remained quiet.

"Alright everyone! Give the lad some space!" a voice called over all the others, "Ah'm sure he's exhausted an' he doesn't need the likes of ye pourin' all over him."

Hiccup sighed as everyone left the room, thankful to whomever spoke out. Though two people still remained after all the others had gone, one being a rather large man (even larger than his father), the other a slender woman with dark brown hair. She had a certain air about her that just made her the most superior person in that room, and as she approached him, Hiccup couldn't help but feel intimidated.

"Welcome," the woman said, "my name is Queen Elinor. This," she gestured to the large man, "is my husband, King Fergus."

Hiccup nodded to both of them, but still remained silent. However this didn't help much, as Queen Elinor waited for him to say something. After a good minute of silence, Elinor decided to speak up again.

"I'm sure you must be confused. You are in the land of clan DunBroch, located on the shores of Scotland. You washed up on our shores only a few days ago."

Hiccup's eyes widened at the word "Scotland." Never before had he imagined he would set foot in the land of the Scotts. Nor had he imagined he would be rescued by them and nursed back to health.

For so long, he had hated the Scotts for killing his mother but- He looked up at Queen Elinor and King Fergus. The look in their eyes gave no sign of hostility or death.

_But they KILLED her!_ his brain screamed at him. Hiccup placed his head in his hands, resting his elbows on his legs.

The King and Queen had no idea what to do. They just stared at the boy in silence, letting him absorb all that was happening.

Hiccup's mind, on the other hand, was racing as fast as Toothless could fly. He just stared at the floor, relaying all that had happened, his mother's eyes, her hand, her heart...stopped. All gone. He closed his eyes, then looked back at the couple's faces._But what if it was a different clan?_ he thought. _There are more clans than one in Scotland._ He gave a small sigh, and his mind calmed a bit, but his heart continued to race.

It raced even faster and almost stopped when a large deer head fell in front of his face upside-down. He fell over backwards past the bed and onto the floor, hitting his head on the stones of the fireplace.

"Hamish! Hubert! Harris! Get down from there!" Queen Elinor called.

Hiccup grunted as he rubbed his head, and looked up to see three small red-head boys laughing, and clamoring off the roof of the bed. The boys gathered around their mother who scolded them as King Fergus came to help Hiccup back on the bed.

"Ah'm very sorry 'bout that." he said, "Boys will be boys."

Unfortunately that line only earned him a very cold look from his wife.

"These are our sons, Hamish, Hubert, and Harris. The three princes of DunBroch." she said.

Hiccup nodded to them as he did their parents, but as he looked at them, he could notice they were triplets. Each of them wearing long-sleeved shirts with a wrap patterned much like his own "skirt" and supported by a much too large belt. And each one wore a bright, childish smile.

"Boys," the Queen continued, "this young man is a GUEST in our home. Be nice to him, he's had a rough trip here."

The princes just giggled, and ran out of the room.

"Don't worry about them," she said to Hiccup, "they play jokes, but they mean well."

"Aye, they're probably off ta raid th' kitchen now. Speain' of which, are ye hungry?" the King questioned.

Hiccup hadn't thought of that till now. He was just about to shake his head no when his stomach gurgled very afterward, the King laughed loudly.

"Ha, well ah suppose that's a yes." and with that he left the room, coming back with a large wooden pole with a rounded chunk of wood at one end of it.

"Here," he said , handing it to Hiccup, "Ye can use this as a crutch fer now."

Hiccup took it, and stood placing it under his right armpit. He tried to take a step, but nearly fell over, making his face turn a bit red. He had never used a crutch before. Gobber had made his prosthetic while he was still unconscious after his battle with Red Death.

Fergus chuckled a bit, but he guided the boy as he slowly made his way out the door, and the two of them followed Queen Elinor through the hallway.

As he limped his way through the castle, he could see where a large opening was coming up, and he could hear a small voice echoing off the walls. He strained his neck to see what was going on, and who was speaking.

As they came to the opening, Queen Elinor shouted, "Louder! We need to hear you from every corner of the castle!"

A disgruntled girl's voice groaned, then began to sing:

"A naoidhean bhig, cluinn mo ghuth

Mise ri d' thaobh, O mhaighdean bhan  
Ar righinn oig, fas as faic  
Do thir, dileas fhein"

Hiccup looked in the room to see a young girl with wild, red hair. Her bright blue eyes stood out against her pale skin, though they were only half-open, giving her an annoyed look on her face. Her back was straight, and her hands folded in front of her stomach as she continued to sing.

"A ghrian a's a ghealaich, stuir sinn

Gu uair ar cliu 's ar gloire  
Naoidhean bhig, ar righinn og  
Mhaighdean uashaill bhan*"

She was done by the time they reached the bottom of the stairs that led down into the room, and when she finished, she looked to her mother for approval.

"Very good," her mother said, nodding her head.

"Ah still don' see how singin' is gonna help me with speakin'." the girl said.

"It'll sustain your voice, and help you to speak for long periods of time. And I think you're done for today, we were just about to go to the dining hall for lunch, would you care to join us? Our guest is awake now."

The red-head leaned over to look at Hiccup, giving him a sideways look.

"Ye look different now that yer out of th' water an' dry."

Hiccup had no idea how to respond. Never before had he been greeted in such a way, so he just said the first thing that came to his mind.

"I'm sure you look different wet too."

He regretted saying anything at all. His cheeks went a deep red as they all stared at him. Merida was just observing him, but the King and Queen were shocked to hear his voice for the first time. Hiccup just wished he could shrink away into nothing.

Eventually, Queen Elinor just smiled, and broke the silence.

"Ahem, might I introduce you to our daughter, Merida."

Hiccup was about to nod like he did to the other members of the family, but he wasn't quick enough, and Merida stuck out her hand, waiting to shake his. Queen Elinor just rolled her eyes. She had hoped Merida would curtsy as she had been teaching her, but there was no helping it.

The boy took her hand slowly, "I'm Hiccup." he said.

The King and Queen were once again stunned to hear him speak, but Merida couldn't help but give a small snort. Never before had she heard such a name. She continued chuckling until her mother snapped a look at her, and Merida looked away.

"Well now," started the King, "shall we dine?"

**Lunch**

"...Mor'du has never been seen since. And is roamin' the wild, waitin' his chance of revenge!"

Hiccup clapped his hands to the story, though he was the only one. All the other family members (minus the Queen who was silently eating her food) had their heads either lying on the table, or leaning back, giving the impression of annoyance and boredom. This was only the millionth time they've heard the tale of Fergus: The Bear King. Hiccup, on the other hand, enjoyed the story, and was eager to hear more.

"So, did you ever see Mor'du again?"

"Aye, we did, but that's another tale."

"So what about ye?" Merida cut in. She was more excited to hear a story she hadn't heard before.

"Me?" Hiccup said.

"Ah'm sure ye have an interesting story t' go with yer leg."

"Merida!" her mother snapped, "You don't ask such questions!"

"Mum!"

"You never know if someone is sensitive about something like that!"

"No, no, its okay." Hiccup said, raising his hands, though he didn't know exactly how to tell his story at all. He didn't exactly feel like telling them he was a viking. There was no telling what they'd do to him.

"Uh, well, it was nothing special really. My foot just got burned really bad." he said nervously.

"Oh, really? From what?" Merida questioned.

Hiccup's eyes widened. He wasn't sure if there were dragons here, and if there weren't, well...he wasn't sure they'd believe him.

"Oh, um...well, you see, I stepped in, uh, a fire pit, and uh, my boot caught fire!"

Merida nodded, but she gave him a questionable look. His tone wasn't very convincing.

"Well, I think that's enough of that," said Queen Elinor, seeing how uncomfortable the boy was, "Merida, why don't you go show him around?"

"Mum! Do ah have to?"

"Yes. Go on, you'll have fun!"

Merida groaned, but she grabbed Hiccup's crutch, and helped him up leading him away. Queen Elinor smiled as they walked away.

Fergus looked at his wife with a raised eyebrow. When Elinor saw him, she said, "What?"

"Yer enjoyin' this."

"Well yes. Merida doesn't have any friends. This may be the opportunity of a lifetime for her to socially interact with anyone."

Fergus chuckled, "Speakin' of, have ye talked to her yet?"

"About what?"

"Why she's been so distant lately."

"Well I...I tried. But it's like she locked herself away from me. Why don't you talk to her?"

"Heh! Ye want ME to talk t' her?"

"She'd tell you anything. She won't even come near me unless I call her for a lesson now."

"Hmm, maybe you could ask her new 'friend' 'bout it!"

"Fergus!"

"Well, if ye wanted her t' be his friend. What are friend's for?"

"Fergus, I can't use the boy for personal reasons. He's been through enough."

"Ye don't know what's he's been through."

"But I know enough to know he doesn't want to talk about it. An' that's enough for me."

"Alright lass, have it yer way. But ye have to figure out what to do about Merida soon."

She sighed as he stood, and walked out of the room.

* * *

*Song: _Noble Maiden Fair_ from the movie _BRAVE_ by Emma Thompson and Peigi Barker. Translation to come later in the story.


	4. Chapter 4

**Washed Up**

Stoick paced the docks. Hiccup and Toothless had been missing since the storm, and many of the dragons had been causing havoc in Berk. At first he figured Hiccup just wanted some time alone as he usually did, but because there was a storm, and Hiccup was never gone for this long, Stoick began to worry.

"I'm sure he'll be back anytime now." said Gobber, as he polished his hand prosthetic, which was now a hammer.

"I hope so..." Stoick replied, "...may Thor protect him..." he added.

He continued to look out to the horizon, the sun shining down to send lights on the water. Thornado disrupted the ocean's beauty by shooting our of the water, and landing by his rider's side. Stoick patted his enormous head, but continued looking on. The lagre, blue dragon nudged him as if asking for a fish, but Stoick merely stroked him.

Suddenly one of the boys of the village came running down to the docks, out of breath.

"Wartihog? What's going on?" Gobber asked as the eleven-year-old gasped for breath.

"I came to see Chief Stoick."

"Chief's in a trance right now, come back later."

"But they found Hiccup's dragon on the West side of the island!"

Stoick's head turned, his eyes wide. "You found Hiccup?"

"N-no. Just his dragon."

In an instant, Stoick jumped on Thornado's head and raced Westward. As they flew into a distance, Wartihog called off to them, "A bunch of men were taking him back to the village!"

By the time Stoick spotted them, they were already halfway through the forest. As they landed, he could see Toothless sprawled across the back of a Monstrous Nightmare named Hookfang, the dragon of Snotlout, a dragon trainer who worked with Hiccup.

Stoick ran over to the exhausted, black dragon, its green eyes only half-open.

"Where's Hiccup?" he asked in an almost demanding tone. But the dragon only leaned its head on Hookfang's back and fell into a deep sleep.

Stoick took a step back, realizing he would have to wait for answers. The caravan decided it was time to continue its journey, and it proceeded forward.

"Snotlout," he called to the dragon rider that was perched just behind the Monstrous Nightmare's head, "Take care of him."

"Yeah, sure." he replied as they vanished between the trees.

**The Village**

Hiccup liked the people of DunBroch. They were much more friendly and MUCH more polite than the people of Berk. Everywhere they went, someone would say, "Awrite*!" or "Afternoon!"

Merida, however, was not having as grand of a time. She always had to wait for Hiccup to limp his way through the village. Earlier she had introduced him to Angus, but he didn't like the idea of riding anything besides Toothless, especially when he wasn't wearing any pants. And to his surprise, none of the men there wore pants or any sort of leggings. When he asked Merida about it, she just laughed at him.

"Hah! Only the women here wear leggin's!"

They continued to walk through the busy streets, markets trying to sell their afternoon products, the sun beating down on everyone. Though no one minded because of the cool breeze sweeping in from the ocean.

Eventually they came to an environment that was familiar to Hiccup.

"Hiccup, this is Ailean**, the finest blacksmith of the kingdom!" introduced Merida, "He makes all the weapons fer th' castle. Ailean, this is Hiccup, the boy floatin' in th' ocean."

"How are ye?" he said. Ailean was a rather large man with arms the size of Hiccup's entire body. He too wore a traditional patterned kilt with a brown belt and large, blakc boots. Unlike the others, however, he was shirtless and covered in soot from the fireplace.

"Uh, hi." said Hiccup.

The man eyed Hiccup, but he kept a smile on his face. Then he turned to Merida, "How's that new bow workin' fer ye?"

Merida shrugged her shoulders. "Alright ah suppose. Still not the same as mah old one."

"Well, not much ah can do 'bout that. Which weapon is yer specialty?" he said to Hiccup.

Hiccup raised his hands. "Oh, I don't really fight."

"Ye don't? Then what do ye do?"

"Well..." Hiccup looked around the shop, eyeing all the materials and weapons, "I'm more of a blacksmith myself."

Ailean raised an eyebrow. "Oh, ye are, are ye?" he said looking at Hiccup's stature. Then he gave a smirk and took a step back. "Alrighty then. How 'bout a little test then? Why don't ye make somethin' here?"

Hiccup was a bit taken aback. Sure, Gobber trusted him to use whatever when he was alone in the shop, but this was someone he had just barely met and he would permit him to use all his equipment.

"Well, what would I make?" he asked.

Ailean eyed around the shop, looking for a good weapon to test his knowledge.

"How 'bout ye make yerself a new leg?" Merida chipped in.

Both Hiccup and Ailean looked at Hiccup's stub at the end of his leg. Aliean smiled to show his approval, though Hiccup was a bit disappointed. He wanted to show his strengths as a blacksmith, though he had never made a prosthetic for himself. He had always made one for Toothless, but Gobber made his one and only. Though, judging by the looks on Merida's and Ailean's faces, he really didn't have a choice in the matter.

Merida watched closely as Hiccup drew out a plan and began measuring his height, the length of the prosthetic and so on. She had always enjoyed coming to watch Ailean work before since she was little, so she was a bit too excited to see someone else working.

It was a bit hard for Hiccup to work with a different environment than what he was used to, especially when he had to hop around or use a crutch. At times, Ailean would help in showing him where certain equipment was, but other than that, he stayed out of the way. As Hiccup worked, Ailean and Merida looked at his plans, a bit worried for the turnout. This was certainly a prosthetic like they had never seen before.

It was hours before Hiccup was done. When he finished, it looked only a bit like Gobber's, but Hiccup adjusted it so he would be able to stand and run better by having a flatter bottom.

"Ta-da!" He exclaimed, holding up his creation.

Merida clapped, still a bit excited from the whole process. Though Ailean was confused on the design.

"Why'd ye make it like that?"

Hiccup looked down at his new leg. "Well, I guess it just reminds me a bit of home." His eyes went distant as he remembered all his family and friends...and Toothless.

Ailean saw the look in his eyes, and didn't want to pry any more. "Alright, put it on, let's see!"

After struggling a bit, Hiccup managed to position his foot to stay on his leg. That was one of the few things it had in common with Gobber's version; it could come off easily.

"Right, now," said Merida, taking the crutch away and putting it outside the shop. "Let's see ye walk with it."

It wasn't that difficult for Hiccup. He had been using his old prosthetic for a while, so it only took a little getting used to with the new design.

Merida clapped her hands together as she did before, a bright smile shining on her face. Hiccup could help but smile back at her. As he continued to walk on his own, Merida couldn't help but feel a sense of pride for him. He was like a little puppy just learning to walk and bark.

"Yer amazin', Hiccup!" she exclaimed as she walked over and bent over to get a closer look at his invention. "What else can ye do?"

Hiccup shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever, I suppose."

She smiled, though this time with a devilish look in her eyes. "Alright then, how 'bout a request? I'd be willin' ta pay ye for it."

"Well..." said Hiccup, placing a hand on his neck, "I don't really have a place to work."

"Ailean will let ye work here. Won't ye Ailean?"

The blacksmith just shrugged his shoulders while smiling, and turned back to his work he was doing before the pair came to visit him.

Hiccup sighed, "OK, fine. What do you want me to do?"

Merida's face beamed, and in an instant, she grabbed his hand and bolted out the door back up the path they already walked. Hiccup nearly tripped, as the prosthetic he was using was brand-new. The princess dragged all the way back to the castle and into a room much like the one Hiccup woke up in. Inside was a bed and a fireplace with a fur pelt in between the two. The small desk sat by the window, covered in papers and a beautifully carved chess set. And all around were massive amounts of carvings that resembled bears. Merida dashed for a small chest at the end of the bed and started rummaging through it.

"Who's room is this?" Hiccup asked, looking at all the carvings.

"Mine." said Merida, still digging through the chest.

"Why do you have so many bear carvings?"

"It's a long story. Ah! Here it is!" and she pulled out a small, wrinkled piece of paper.

Hiccup noticed a small drawing on it, yet again with bears, though it had a very abstract design.

"Do ya think ye could make a necklace with this on it?" Merida asked.

Hiccup looked at her. She had a very hopeful look in her eyes, as if this was the only thing that mattered in the world.

"I...suppose I can." he replied.

Merida's face beamed up as it did back in the blacksmith's shop. "Thank ya very much Hiccup! Ailean can make a sword in a jiffy, but he never had such precision that you have."

"May I just ask, what is this for?"

The brightness in her eyes died down. "Well, its fer me mum. She used ta have one a long time ago, but when she gave it to me, ah...lost it."

"You lost it?"

"Aye, I did."

He wasn't very convinced with Merida's tone deceiving her, but he shrugged it off.

Hiccup looked back at the drawing. "Well, I've never made a necklace before, but I'll be sure to give this a shot."

The bright smile returned to Merida's face, though it disappeared again when her mother strolled in.

"Oh, hello dear." said Queen Elinor to Merida, who thought the floor was more interesting than her mother's eyes.

"Afternoon, your Majesty." said Hiccup, trying to break the tension between the family members.

"Evening is more like it now," started the Queen, "In fact, it's time for dinner, which is the reason I came to get you two."

"Alright, mum. We're coming." Merida said, still not looking at her mother's face.

The Queen hesitated for a moment, then nodded to Hiccup and left. Hiccup looked at Merida with a questionable look, his eyebrows furrowing slightly.

"Are you angry with your mom?"

"What? No, Ah'm not. Why do ye say that?"

Hiccup shrugged, not wanting to get in an argument. He had a feeling he'd lose anyway.

"Well, shall we go then?" Hiccup said, gesturing to the open door.

Merida nodded, and the two of them went downstairs.

**Plan**

Stoick paced the Great Hall with quick strides as he did when waiting at the docks. Toothless had awaken and was better, but there was no way for a dragon to tell him where Hiccup was, if he even knew at all. The black dragon only looked out to the sea as the chief had done before, calling out to his partner. Occasionally he would sniff around trying to catch a scent on the wind, but it was no use.

"You wanted to see me?" asked Gobber, walking into the Great Hall after pushing the gigantic doors aside.

"Gobber! Yes, I need your help."

"With what?"

"I need ideas on how to find Hiccup. No matter what I think of, there's always something in the way."

"Why not just organize a search party? We could sail out for a few days, come back, sail again-"

"No, that would take too long, and the men would get restless after one trip."

"Then we'll take Toothless with us. He found the Dragons' Nest for us before."

"But he knew where it was before."

"He might know where Hiccup is."

"No," said a small female voice. "He hasn't got a clue."

Astrid walked in, leaning on the edge of the giant fire pit in the middle of the room.

"That dragon never stays at the same shore. He's constantly moving from coast to coast, trying to listen for Hiccup. If we're trying to get to him as soon as possible, taking the dragon might be slower than just taking a search party."

"What do you suggest?" asked Stoick, looking earnestly at the blonde.

"Let Toothless find him."

The chief and the blacksmith looked at each other, confused.

"But you just said we shouldn't take him!" piped Gobber.

"I know," said Astrid, "but I said we should let Toothless find him. Alone."

"Astrid, you of all people should know that Toothless can't fly on his own, and he won't let anyone besides Hiccup sit on his back."

"Hiccup made a tail that he could operate on his own last winter."

"Right, but the bloody dragon smashed it!"

"But the designs for it could still be in Hiccup's work-space. You could make a new tail for him and he could find Hiccup the same way he found his helmet!"

"Alright," said Stoick, "say he makes a new tail for him, and the dragon goes off, how will we know he'll be coming back with Hiccup?"

The female viking stood there for a moment, her eyes narrowing.

"Well," she continued, "Toothless won't stop looking till he finds him, and if he does, Hiccup will ride him back home."

"But what if there's trouble where Hiccup's at?" Gobber interrupted.

"Then Toothless will help him out, or Hiccup might send him back to get help from us."

Gobber looked over at Stoick, an eyebrow raised as the chief ran over the entire conversation in his mind again. After a few long moments, he turned back to Gobber.

"Find those designs and get that tail ready as soon as possible, and tell me when you're done."

Gobber nodded, and started off for his small store. Once he was gone, Stoick walked over and placed his large hand on Astrid's shoulder.

"Let's hope this works." he said.

"Yeah..." she replied quietly, then looked out to the open doorway. The sun had gone down and the lights outside flickered from the wind.

_Hiccup..._ she whispered.

* * *

*A scottish greeting with the English equivalent of "Hi!"

**A Gaelic name meaning "rock" or "noble"


	5. Chapter 5

**Long Nights**

Nights in Scotland were much different than the nights on Berk. Instead of the low rumbling of a dragon's snore, all Hiccup could hear was the rhythmic footsteps of the guards on patrol outside. Hiccup lay awake, listening to all the sounds, every one of them reminding him of his best friend. He sat up straight when he heard an flapping noise just beyond his window, but when he opened it, there was only a small crow that managed to fly right by Hiccup's face, causing him to wave him arms and yell at the bird before it flew back out his window. Sighing, he walked back to his bed and tried once again to go to sleep.

Merida didn't get much sleep that night either. Then again, she hadn't been for the past several months. Every night she thought about her mother, her position, and her fate. Many times she would sit up, grab her bow, and from her bed she would aim out her window toward a tower across the courtyard that had a target she had put there. She closed her eyes for a moment, concentrating on only the target, everything clear from her mind, the target suddenly becoming the only thing left in the world, then she would open her eyes just once more, and-

SMACK!

As usual, the arrow flew straight into the center of the target, possibly slitting yet another arrow sent there a few nights before. But though she had hit her millionth bull's eye, as soon as the arrow was gone out of her room, all the pressures and worries entered her mind once again. Before lying back down to sleep, Merida placed her bow on the desk, stirred the dying embers, and curled up on her animal skin rug, her eyes only closing ever so slowly.

**Shorelines**

"What do ya mean ye've never had a Dundee cake?" Merida exclaimed.

The next morning Queen Elinor sent Merida to show Hiccup around the kingdom again, but this time she took him to the docks and shores by the ocean. They had been hiking over rocks and weeds for an hour before Hiccup declared exhaustion, and the two sat down, feeling the cool breeze refresh them.

"Well, it's not exactly your everyday cuisine where I come from." Hiccup said in an almost annoyed tone.

"Help ma boab*! Ye need ta try it. Ah always ask fer that fer mah birthday, with almonds and apple fruit peel." she gave a long sigh, remembering the taste of her favorite dessert. Opening her eyes, she turned her thoughts back to her tourist. "So what about ye? What's yer favorite food?"

"Well, out of the many, WONDERFUL things I've eaten in my life, I'd have to say salmon."

"Salmon?" Merida cocked her head in disbelief.

"Or Icelandic cod."

"Iceland? Are ye from the North?" asked Merida, remembering her many geography lessons from her mother.

Hiccup suddenly got very nervous. "Uh, yeah. Not too far, just far enough. Of course, it's colder, but not much colder than here, here's pretty cold too, but it's warmer here than back home..."

Merida just laughed as Hiccup continued to ramble on. Eventually he ran out of steam and just mumbled his last words.

"Yer a strange boy." Merida stated after she was done laughing.

"Thanks, I really appreciate it." he said sarcastically.

"No, no. Ah meant it as a compliment. Ye see, ah was always considered ta be strange too. So everythin' normal, everythin' my mum accepts is strange to me. Does tha' make sense to ye?"

"Actually, yes." The princess looked over to him, curiosity filling her eyes as he continued, "My dad is like that. He always expected me to be something I wasn't, and when I finally became his perfect son, everything went wrong. He thought I was one thing, then I became the disappointment of his life."

Merida listened intently, at the same time connecting back to her mother, the clans, the marriage, and the bear. She shivered, remembering Mor'du's face, and the face of a mother hidden by a beast.

"What happened next?" she asked, hoping for a resolve to her own problem.

"Well, he realized I couldn't be the son he expected, but I managed to become the son he could be proud of." Hiccup smiled, remembering the time at the Dragons' Nest when his father said for the first time that he was proud of him.

"What's yer father like? Is he a great man?" Merida was becoming more and more interested about this boy's relationship with his father.

"Great is an understatement. He strength is known all through the land, and as a chief, he could inspire an army just by showing his face. Absolutely nothing like me."

"Chief? Yer da's a chief?" Merida was surprised. Hiccup didn't seem like a son of a great leader, then again neither did the sons of clans Macintosh, Dingwall and MacGuffin.

Hiccup's eyes bulged. He had let another thing slip as he rambled. "Uh, yes, though our village is pretty small. You probably wouldn't know him."

"No, probably not. Ah don't know much of anything outside the kingdom. Mah mum gives lessons, but mostly of only surrounding islands and the land of the clans."

"Wait, have you ever been outside the kingdom?"

"Yes, through the forest. I stumbled upon an ancient castle of legend, but I've never been at sea. Mah mum thinks it's too dangerous."

"REALLY?" Hiccup couldn't count the amount of times he went on a ship, or even just rode out to sea on Toothless. Of course, he couldn't deny it WAS dangerous. Storms and pirates could catch you at any time, and being shipwrecked never helped either.

Merida simply nodded to his question, then looked out to the open ocean in front of her. Avoiding her temptation, she stood up, gesturing for Hiccup to follow.

"Let's go, it's gettin' late." she said.

Sendoff

Astrid stroked Stormfly's quills down, waiting for Gobber to come with the new tail he had finished just the night before. She looked over to Toothless, who was looking out to the ocean once again. She could have sworn he almost jumped off a cliff trying to fly just a few days before. He missed Hiccup too much, and it was starting to wear him down. The poor dragon only slept when he couldn't stay awake any longer, and the fish Astrid tried feeding to him remained sitting by him.

It was decided the night before that Astrid would follow Toothless on Stormfly to ensure the safety of Toothless and Hiccup.

"Hey! Here I am!" Gobber called, followed by Stoick, cradling a tail fin made from a long-forgotten blueprint.

Astrid turned to see him bundling down the path, eventually coming to a stop right in front of Astrid and her own blue dragon.

Handing her the fin, Gobber said, "Ye better hurry along now."

"How much food did you pack?" asked Stoick.

"Just about enough for a month." she said taking the fin. Carefully, she approached Toothless from behind, hoping he wouldn't notice as she put it on him. Unfortunately, the dragon did notice and leaped away, growling.

"Hey, hey." said Astrid, putting the tail down and lifting her hands. "We made this to find Hiccup. Do you want to find him?"

Toothless' ears perked at "Hiccup," and after a few moments, he crept back toward Astrid, positioning his tail near the slightly familiar tail fin.

"Good boy." said Astrod, and she fastened the prosthetic to Toothless' tail, securing everything as to make sure it would ork once he tried it.

Once she was done, the dragon lifted his tail, examining the fin as he did once before, realizing he could fly on his own again. As soon as this realization came, he spread his wings and shot off into the air, bolting to look for a scent of Hiccup. Nearly blown off the dock by the sudden take-off, Astrid collected herself before climbing atop Stormfly and racing as fast as the dragon could go after the Night Fury.

"We'll be back soon!" she called behind her, trying to reassure the teary-eyed father. But she was already beyond their ear-shot by the time she yelled it.

"May the Aesir** and Eir*** protect them all." prayed Stoick, tears filling his eyes once again.

**Sewing**

A week had now passed since Hiccup's first day of consciousness, and Merida was stuck in her mother's sewing room, trying to untangle five different threads she was using for embroidery. Meanwhile her mother sat silently working on her new tapestry project that hung on the wall. It appeared to be the trinity sign with knotted designs weaving in and out of it. Frustrated and sick of sewing, Merida threw down her cloth.

"Mum, ah can't do it!" she complained, standing up.

"Sure you can, Merida. It just takes some time." her mother replied as she watched her daughter storm out of the room, bow in hand.

Elinor sighed. She knew Merida was free-spirited and wild, but sometimes she wished her daughter would listen to her for even just a little time. _Maybe she just doesn't love you..._ she thought to herself, as a small, silent tear rolling down her cheek. For a moment, she let it fall, but she never displayed weakness, even alone by herself. Quickly she blinked it away and continued working.

Elsewhere, Merida trudged out of the castle and down the path, knowing where her new friend would be. Hiccup was working on Merida's request, though he stopped a few times to help out Ailean, who was being overworked that day. By now, Hiccup had gotten his old clothes back, which had to be washed multiple times to get the algae and everything else out of the fabric. Relieved, he had put his pants back on, even if it meant being weird in the land of the Celts, though he had to admit, the clothes they had given him were very comfortable, and he enjoyed wearing them. So a blue shirt hung on a board by the ceiling of the workshop, and the kilt was still wrapped around his waist.

"Hey, Hiccup!" called Ailean from the back of the shop, "could ye help me with somethin' lad?"

Sweaty and tired, the viking stood up, stretched his back, then walked to where Ailean was.

"What is it?"

"Ah need ye ta deliver somethin' fer me. Mr. Boag needs his halberd now, but ah hafta maintain th' heat on the furnace."

Hiccup groaned quietly. He didn't know the village all too well, and he went to the wrong home many times on delivery. But Ailean seemed like the kind of person you didn't want to say "no" to.

"Sure, where is it?" sighed Hiccup, grabbing his shirt off the roof beam.

"Over by th' clamp. He lives close to th' docks. He'll have his name on th' door."

"Right," replied Hiccup, putting his shirt on and grabbing the weapon, "what's his name again?"

"BOAG. Now get goin'."

Hiccup stumbled out the door, halberd in his arms. Half groaning, half whining, he started down the road, dodging other people going down the road and nearly getting run over by an ox. Eventually, he made it to his destination and dropped off the weapon, giving him time to get lost on his way back...again. Hiccup decided this time he would just keep walking till he found something familiar, kicking a pebble with his right foot to pass the time, and to distract his as he thought about Toothless again.

Finally, he had made it back, and he sat down in his stool to start working on his commission again. Though he was yet again interrupted when a flash of red hair flew by his face, stomping through the door and grumbling something that Hiccup couldn't make out. Merida paced the shop a bit, catching the attention of both blacksmiths before starting her rant:

"Ah don't know how she expects me ta learn how ta sew! Ah don't like sewing! And it's obvious ah don't have the patience fer it. Ah just don't understand why she keeps doin' this. Ah have been sewin' pretty much since the day ah was born! Ah'm never going ta get it! And every time all she says is, 'make yer stiches smaller, don't bunch up the thread, don't bunch up the cloth, ye skipped a stitch!' Jus' because you like sewin' don't mean ah do!"

Hiccup didn't have to ask who this was about. It seemed every time Merida was angry it was directed toward her mother. So, he just sat there, swinging his legs as she continued to rage. Only when she was done did Hiccup dare to speak.

"Have you ever SERIOUSLY took the time to TRY to enjoy sewing?" he asked, Merida now sitting down and examining a broad-sword.

"No, but ah know ah wouldn't enjoy it."

"How come? I'd imagine someone like you who has such great precision in archery would be amazing at sewing!"

"Because sewing is not archery. Archery involves strength and precision. Sewing is just...just...well, girly!"

"And you're a girl."

Merida glared at him, giving him the you-know-what-I-meant look.

"Look, I'm just saying!" said Hiccup, raising his hands, "Why don't you talk to HER about it instead? Y'know? Work something out?"

"Because I don't want the same thing ta happen again!"

"WHAT to happen?"

Merida went silent. She turned away, hanging the sword she had in her hand back on the wall. Though Hiccup was utterly confused. He looked over to Ailean for help, who was watching them from the back, but quickly looked away and began working again when he noticed Hiccup's stare. As Hiccup looked back at Merida he could see the rage had left her face, but it was replaced by something he couldn't even describe. She looked off into space, as if in turmoil within herself.

Swallowing hard, Merida looked back at Hiccup, then said, "Ah'm sorry for distracting ye from yer work. Please forgive me." and she left.

Hiccup watched her as she went out the door, her curly hair bouncing as she strode back up the steps to the castle. Curiosity filled his mind and he went to the back of the shop as soon as she was gone.

"Hey, Ailean. Did something happen between Merida and the Queen before?"

Ailean's eyes bulged, and he stopped adding coals to the fire. "Aye," he said slowly, "it happened a year ago. Though us villagers don't talk about it much. It's...difficult...ta understand." Nervously, he began adding more coals. "Ye better ask th' princess about it instead. Ah shouldn't be th' one ta tell ya."

Hiccup sighed. It was obvious Merida didn't want to talk about it, and Merida didn't seem like the kind of person whose bad side you want to get on.

"Though," Ailean added, "ye could always ask th' Queen herself about it. Ah'm not sure if she'd be as avoiding as th' princess, but it's worth a shot."

This didn't help at all. Hiccup was always intimidated by the Queen. Asking her about a personal problem would be out of the question. Though, he truly wanted to know what was going on...

**Later that night**

Hiccup plopped back onto his bed, exhausted from the work Ailean gave him. Lazily, he kicked his one boot off, letting it fall to the floor. Slowly, he turned over on his stomach, thinking about what happened in the shop with Merida. Her face was so sullen, as if she was in pain.

Then, out of the blue, Merida walked in, though Hiccup hadn't noticed, and continued to stare off into space. Quietly, she closed the door, her face slightly lowered and hidden away by her hair.

"Ah'm sorry about today, Hiccup." she said quietly, her head still lowered.

Hearing her, the boy shot up, his green eyes wide from shock.

Though Merida just continued, "Ah'm sorry fer bein' so mad. Ah hope ye know it wasn't directed toward you, an' ah'm sorry ye had to listen to all that. Ah'm sure ye have other things ta worry about."

"No, no" said Hiccup, "It's fine. You don't have to apologize. I can tell things are difficult with your mom."

Merida's face sank even lower. "It's all my fault, really." she said, "Ah've been selfish, an' she deserves more from me."

Hiccup slapped himself on the forehead. Obviously, it was NOT the right thing to say.

"And you deserve more too." the princess continued. Hiccup looked at her, an eyebrow raised. "Yer the only one that doesn't know about the situation between mah mum an' I. To be honest, ah was embarrassed when ah found out th' entire village found out. But in a small kingdom, there's no stoppin' it. But ye have just as much right ta know as everyone else, and if ye want ta know, meet me in th' courtyard at dawn."

By now her face had emerged from her mass of curls, and Hiccup could see tear stains drawn all over her face. He just nodded, and allowed her to collect herself before she left.

In all honesty, Hiccup was stunned. He had only been in the household of DunBroch for a week, but never before had he seen Merida this way. She had always seemed so headstrong, so determined, and so uncontrollable. He never thought he'd see the day when she spilled tears. Laying back down, he closed his eyes, hoping to drift into a sleep before having to wake at dawn the next day.

In his mind, he pictured Merida's face, her tearful blue eyes closed. He wanted her to open them. He didn't want her to cry any more. Slowly, she opened her eyes again, but they weren't her eyes. They were a yellow-green, with deep black slits. Hiccup could see his reflection in them, just like the time when a Night Fury held him against a rock just after he had released it. It opened it mouth to let out a roar, but it wasn't a roar. Hiccup could see his dragon wailing and flapping it's wings as it fell into the ocean. Down, down into the depths of the sea.

"TOOTHLESS!" Hiccup cried.

Again, he had fallen off the bed in his sleep, his blanket wrapped tightly around his prosthetic, the image of Toothless' face slowly melting away as he came back to reality. Huffing, he untied the blanket from his leg, crawled back into bed and curled up, hugging his pillow tightly, trying not to think of his friend.

Elsewhere, a black dragon's ears perked up, and he lifted his head toward where he thought he heard Hiccup's voice. He whined into the wind and sniffed the air, trying to hear it again.

"There, there." said Astrid, stroking his neck. Despite his many protests, she managed to get the dragon to land on a small island to rest before they continued their journey again. At first it was just non-stop flying, but after the third day, she insisted he stopped for the health of Stormfly, who was curled up by Astrid, purring loudly. Ever since their first stop, it gradually became easier to get Toothless to stop for just one night, but if she didn't wake up fast enough, he would leave both of them behind.

Slowly, Toothless put his head back down and closed his eyes, making a low rumbling noise in his throat.

"Don't worry," Astrid tried to comfort him the best she could. "We'll find him soon...I hope..."

**Legend of the Bear Princess**

Merida never woke up early on her own, but this time she'd have to, as she promised. Groggily, she sat up a bit before dawn, and slipped out of bed, trying to pull her nightgown off. After she had changed into her favorite blue dress, she strapped her belt and quiver to her waist, secured her bow over her shoulder, and stumbled out the door. Quietly, she lipped past her parent's room, then made her way down to the kitchen, where she snagged a couple apples lying on the table and popped one in her mouth. Casually, she walked out the back door, only to trip on the steps over something large, skinny, and half-awake. Merida braced herself as she came in contact with the hard stones on the ground, meanwhile Hiccup was groaning to a rude awakening.

"Are ye tryin' ta kill me?" Merida exclaimed, realizing who it was.

"Sorry..." Hiccup mumbled, rubbing the spot where her foot came in contact with his back.

Merida rolled her eyes, then tossed one of her apples to the viking. Then she stood and walked over to the stable where her own pet was waiting for her.

"Mornin' Angus!" she said, handing her last apple to him. The Clydesdale accepted it graciously, neighing with approval.

Hiccup picked up the apple and took a bite out of it. Then he remembered why on earth he was outside.

"So, you're gonna tell me about the...thing...with you...and your mom...right?"

"Aye," Merida replied, grabbing a saddle and positioning it on Angus' back.

"And...you're getting your horse ready. That's...nice."

"I'll tell ye part of th' tale on the way there. Of course, it'll take too long on foot, and ah haven't rode Angus in a while. He needs the exercise."

"Wait, on the way where?" Hiccup asked, starting to be even more confused than he was before.

"You'll see soon enough." Merida replied as she fastened the harness on the horse's head. After she was done, she grabbed a handful of oats and fed it to Angus just before climbing onto his back and walking her steed over to Hiccup. "Well? Are ye comin'?"

Hiccup looked at the horse, who seemed harmless enough, but he had never ridden a horse before.

"Listen, I already told you. I don't feel comfortable riding horses."

"Ye have yer pants back."

"Well, that's not the only problem. I have my own...animal I ride back home."

"Ah'm sure he'll forgive ye. C'mon, or ah'm gonna leave ye."

Hiccup hesitated for a moment, wary of Angus' every movement. Slowly, he approached the beast, and in a single moment he grabbed Merida's extended arm and swung over the horse's back. Though Merida decided it'd be fun to give the boy a little scare, so as soon as she knew he was in contact with the horse, she yelled and snapped the reigns. Angus darted forward, nearly making Hiccup fall off, but he quickly grabbed around Merida's waist, terror filling his face as well as a bunch of red hair. Lauging, Merida gradually had Angus slow down, allowing the lad to calm down before she started her story.

"That wasn't funny." said Hiccup, releasing Merida from his tight grip when they finally started walking again.

"Oh, it's just all good fun!" the girl smiled as she looked back to her passenger.

"So where are we going?" said Hiccup, looking around at the mass of trees surrounding them.

"To a place where ah tried to change mah fate." Merida said.

Hiccup leaned his body sideways to see her eyes, but it was no use. Her hair was covering her face again.

"Mah life before was similar to now. Ah had to take lessons from mah mum about bein' a princess. Ah had ta learn how to walk, talk, eat, everythin'. An' one day, she told me ah was supposed t' be married off to some suitor. T' one of the sons of the three lords. Ah got scared. Ah...ah just wasn't ready yet! But she wouldn't listen, an' ah had to take matters into mah own hands. Ye see, here we have laws, that any suitor that wishes th' hand of th' princess must first prove his worth in a game chosen by th' princess herself. So...ah chose archery, an' once th' lads had shot their arrows, ah took mah stand an' showed 'em up. Unfortunately, mah mum still didn't understand, and she became furious, an' that's where out troubles started. She an' I had a...talk...an' ah still couldn't believe she wanted me t' go through with this, so ah tore her tapestry t' show ah couldn't be like her, but ah wasn't prepared for what happened next. She took mah bow an' threw it into th' fire. Ah was so hurt. Mah dad had given it t' me fer mah birthday when ah turned six. So, when ah realized it was gone forever...ah ran. Ah kept runnin' till ah ended up...here."

Hiccup looked up to see them standing in a ring of tall boulders, all standing vertically except for one that was broken at the base and appears to have fallen.

"What is this place?" he said, his eyes scanning every inch of the area. Mysterious as it was, he had to admit, it was beautiful.

"Ah don't know." Merida replied, shrugging her shoulders. "But once ah got here, I was guided by th' Will' O' the Wisps to another place."

"Will' O' the Wisps? What are those?"

"Spirits of old who lead people t' their fate. Good or bad."

"Where did they lead you?"

"To a witch. A witch of whom I used mah mum's necklace, th' same necklace ah asked ye to make a replica of, t' pay fer a spell. A spell of which ah had hoped would change mah fate."

"Did it?"

Merida's head lowered again, and she tapped Angus with her leg to make him go forward again. "Aye...but not th' way ah had hoped." She took in a deep breath, then continued. "It had turned her into a bear. A large, black bear. Thankfully, she was still her on th' inside, but not for long. After we had escaped th' castle, we found the home of th' witch again t' try t' change her back, but all we found out was after the second sunrise, she would be a wild bear...forever..."

Hiccup remained silent, listening to her, but he couldn't help but pop the question, "Did she?"

"O' course not! She's still here!" Merida exclaimed, and Hiccup slapped himself again, embarrassed for forgetting the Queen was back at the castle.

"But it wasn't easy." she said, "Th' witch gave me a hint for how t' change her back, though it was hard to figure out. She said, 'Fate be changed, look inside, mend the bond, torn by pride.' We had no idea what to do. After the first sunrise, the Will' O' the Wisps led us to an old abandoned castle where we discovered the last one to use the same spell was none other than the beast of terror himself, Mor'du."

Hiccup's eyes widened. From the way King Fergus described the beast, he'd never imagine it used to be a human.

"Mor'du used to be a prince from an ancient kingdom who had three other brothers. When their father died, he split the kingdom into four instead of giving him his birthright, so he asked the witch to change his fate, and he transformed into Mor'du. And after only barely escaping his claws at his old castle, we thought the answer to th' spell was the tapestry ah tore before changin' mah mum. Ah thought that all ah had to do was stitch it up and she would be fine. Unfortunately mah dad found us before ah could even start, an' once he saw mum, he attacked her. Thankfully she escaped, and went back to that clearing ah took ye to, an' thanks to th' help of me brothers, ah finished th' tapestry an' got back to protect mum from mah dad. But just before ah could explain t' mah dad, Mor'du appeared, an' nearly killed us all if not fer me mum. She fought him and crushed him under that fallen rock ye saw. Though, the second sunrise was coming, an' we were runnin' out of time. So ah grabbed th' tapestry an' threw it over mah mum, though it didn't work...ah didn't know what to do. Mah mum was becomin' wild before mah eyes, an all ah could do was say ah was sorry. Sorry for everythin'. An' ah gave her mah last words sayin' ah loved her...ah...just couldn't believe she was gone, an' she wasn't. She changed back, an th' marriage conflict was resolved. Ah couldn't have been happier." she smiled, looking ahead of her.

"An' we gave promises t' each other after that day. She'd give me mah freedom, an' ah'd continue t' prepare fer bein' a proper princess. But as time went on, ah realized ah couldn't meet her expectations with everythin', and again, ah got scared. Ah don't hate mah mum, Hiccup, but ah do hate myself. Ah avoid mah mum now because ah can't bear to disappoint her even more. Ah pretend to be annoyed with th' lessons an' occasionally, ah truly am annoyed with them, but ah try t' show her ah can't do it. But ah can't talk to her about it. Ah'm afraid ah'll make another mistake and turn her into..." she trailed off.

"A bear?"

Merida hid her face again, and Hiccup could hear a few soft sniffs.

"Hey, sometimes it's okay to be scared. But that doesn't mean you have to hate yourself." Hiccup reassured, "You're strong, you're brave, and you're a princess. Based on what you told me, I think your mom will listen to you. Just talk to her. You said so yourself you only pretend to be annoyed with some of the lessons, so why not talk about which ones you prefer with her, try to work something out?"

"Ah can't!"

"Sure you can! Merida..." she looked back at him. "Just try..."

She nodded, but her eyes told him she wasn't going to. Hiccup sighed, and the two of them remained silent for the rest of their journey.

* * *

*A Scottish exclamation of astonishment or exasperation

**A group of warrior gods led by Odin who inhabit Asgard (Norse Mythology)

***Goddess of healing (Norse Mythology)


	6. Chapter 6

**Tears**

The hot evening winds blew fiercely, causing the horses in the stables to stir. Merida and Hiccup had returned long before, the blacksmith now rolling in his sleep in his quarters. The princess, however, was pacing her room in her nightgown, thinking about the day's event. Wondering whether or not to talk to the Queen.

Queen Elinor, on the other hand, was yet again working on her tapestry, adding more colors to the woven trinity sign. She always sewed whenever she was angry or stressed, and it was always where King Fergus could find her.

"Mind if ah come in?" he asked, poking his head out from behind the door.

"Do as you please." said Elinor, waving her hand, "that's just what everyone else in this house does."

Fergus sighed, walking in, leaving the door open behind him before approaching his wife. She continued to stitch as he placed his large hands on her shoulders, kissing the top of her head.

"Ye alright, lass?" he said, turning her body to prevent her from ignoring him.

"Fine, fine." she said, trying to turn back to continue working.

He let her go and sat back in a small stool sitting by the Queen's personal sewing chest.

"No, yer not." he said folding his arms. "Yer upset, an' ah'm guessing it's about our wee princess."

She sighed, letting her needle fall and hang from the thick thread, still attached to the large tapestry.

"She got upset at me again, but ah don't know what to do about it. I can't yell at her, she'll just yell back, and last time we had a heated argument THAT happened." she sighed again, her brown eyes turning to her husband, who was attempting at a comforting smile.

"Have ye talked to her?"

"I tried! But she always runs off as if I'm going to bite her head off!"

The King nodded, remembering all the times he saw Merida run away from her mother during a lesson, during a meal, or even during a court meeting.

"Well, have ye talked to HIM yet?"

"Who?"

"Hiccup! Ah see they've gotten closer since ye've been sendin' her off with him every day."

"Fergus! I told you, I won't use that poor boy for personal matters!" Elinor snapped, and she turned back to her sewing.

The King stood up, grunting a bit as he put weight back on his wooden peg. "Fine," he said, "we've already been through this before, but Ah'm tellin' ye, if ye don't sort this out now, ye never will." and he gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

"There's nothing to sort out. It's official. Merida hates me, and there's nothing I can do about it."

"She doesn't hate ye, lass!"

"Yes, she does!" her voice cracked, but she swallowed hard before continuing. "I never even see her smile anymore..." she looked off to a distance, trying to remember something long past, "...people keep telling me she has a beautiful smile. Why can't I see it?"

Fergus went silent. He couldn't argue with her. Merida's face always darkened whenever the Queen walked in, turning her attention to her shoes, or just completely turning her back.

"I used to see her smile." Elinor said, pulling a stitch. "What did I do to make her stop?"

The Queen couldn't take it any longer. She dropped her needle and again and began to sob. Dozens of tears fell as she bit her sleeve to keep anyone from hearing her, despite her husband being right there, the heavy breathing echoing within her own head. The King quickly ran over and scooped her up in his arms.

"There, there...shhh..." he said, rocking her frail body. "It's alright...don't cry...no, cry. Cry till yer tears run out...there..."

Elinor had never allowed herself the pleasure of sadness or pain since she was little. For years, she had kept herself cooped up inside to protect everyone around her. Now here she was, grasping her husband's sleeve, crying loudly into his chest.

Merida's breathing had increased to heavy huffs as she listened her her father's words of comfort. The princess had come to try to talk to the Queen, but when she got there, the King was already inside talking to her, so Merida had heard everything. Merida kept her back to the wall of the hallway, the Queen's loud sobs bouncing off the walls, impaling themselves into Merida's ears.

The princess covered her mouth to keep a sudden gasp from entering her lungs, and she ran down the hallway to her own room, her own tears blurring her view as she fell onto her bed.

_Ah can't talk to her now...Not now...Not ever..._

**A Plan**

The next morning was only filled with tension and nonchalance. Hiccup felt a bit awkward sitting at the table with the royal family as he did every morning, insisting on just eating in the kitchen, but the Queen always insisted that he stay with them. However this morning in particular, it was King Fergus that made him stay, as the Queen sat in silence, not looking up, and not even picking up a utensil to eat her food. Here eyes were red, and Hiccup could see Merida's were as well, and she too, hadn't even touched her food.

"So, uh...Merida, do you have any lessons today?" Hiccup asked, startling everyone at the table, even the princes who had noticed the strange behavior of their mother, and decided now would be a good time to stay quiet.

But Merida didn't even look up at him, she just nodded her head, some of her curls falling in her face.

"What will you be doing?" he said slowly, leaning his head over to see her face better, though more curls fell into her face when she shrugged her shoulders.

Hiccup looked around the table. He could definitely tell something was up, he just didn't know what. King Fergus was leaning back, slowly eating his food, all the while staring at his wife, who had her head down like Merida. The only ones who seemed just as confused as Hiccup were the princes, who quickly ran out of the room as soon as they were excused by their father.

The following lesson with the noblewomen wasn't much different. No one else was around, but that only made the tension increase. Instead of trying Merida's musical abilities as they would have every five days, the two of the sat in silence, the complaints of a farmer to the King about the previous night's wind echoing through the castle.

Occasionally, the Queen would look up to see her daughter's face, but then quickly look away again, afraid of seeing a scowl on her daughter's face. However Merida was just as scared as the Queen, and it was only until one of the maids came in to announce lunch did they stop sitting in silence and leave the room. Even during the evening when they were alone, they sat in silence, contemplating about each other.

This continued for the next four days before anyone tried to do anything about it. The King was tired of seeing his dear Elinor in pain, so he knew it was time to act as patriarch and change the matter.

He paced the throne room, his loyal hunting dogs asleep on the floor, breathing heavily. His wooden peg clunked with every other step as he ran over in his mind what he was going to say as soon as they came. Suddenly the giant oak doors opened as Hiccup walked in, his own prosthetic making a racket. The boy was covered head to toe in soot from working the fires all day, and his arms were sore from bending metals, straightening swords, sharpening spear heads, and everything else he had to do that kept him from working on his original project.

Fergus saw him, and before he could even close the door, the King rushed over to him and grabbed his tired shoulders.

"Wha- ow! Oh, Your Majesty!" Hiccup attempted a small bow out of habit, but the King's grasp kept him from moving.

"Ah need ta talk to ye lad." he said in his usual gruff voice, and without even waiting for him to answer, he dragged him to a small room with no windows. He plopped the confused boy down in a small wooden chair, and secured the door.

"Uh, did I do something wrong, Your Majesty?" said Hiccup, noticing the unusual scenery.

"What? No." the King replied, sitting in his own chair. "But we need to speak in private."

"About what?" Hiccup was a bit less scared, but his nervousness only increased.

Fergus opened his mouth, then closed it again, trying to remember everything he was going to say. He stared into Hiccup's face, forcing Hiccup to raise his eyebrows, hoping for a good answer.

"Well, you an' Merida have gotten close lately, an' ah need ta know...has she ever talked with ye about her mother?"

Hiccup relaxed a bit, glad that SOMEONE besides himself noticed the unusual tension between the pair.

"Well, yes. But not anytime recently. In fact, she hasn't talked to me at all for almost a week now."

"Aye, neither has Elinor t' me. Ever since she-" the King cut himself off, not wanting to embarrass his dear wife. _Though..._he looked back at Hiccup_...this lad is honest...an' he seems sincere..._

"Well, four nights ago, th' Queen...had a breakdown." The King waited for a reaction, but Hiccup gave none and he continued on, "She believes Merida hates her, an' she won't listen to reason."

"Merida doesn't hate her!" Hiccup protested. "In fact she's scared of disappointment and disapproval from her mother!"

The King leaned back, thinking. "She is, huh? Then why does she run away all th' time?"

Hiccup shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe she feels it's better to leave than fail."

"So they're just afraid of each other then?"

"I suppose so?"

"Then she shoulda listened ta me!" The King stood up, his swinging arms nearly hitting Hiccup in the face. "If she had jus' talked with her, we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"You and me both." said Hiccup, rolling his eyes, then straightened his posture, remembering he was in the presence of the King.

"So they jus' need ta talk to each other." a smiled grew across Fergus' face.

"If I may, Your Majesty, they won't even look at each other anymore. If this continues on, they might not even want to be in the same room with each other."

King Fergus face went sour again, and he paced the room, thinking of a solution. Suddenly, he stopped and looked back down at Hiccup.

"Why don't YOU make 'em talk t' each other?"

Hiccup's eyes widened, afraid to get any more mixed up in this drama. "ME? Your Majesty?"

"Merida trusts ye, an' th' Queen would listen to ya. Yer our guest!"

"B-but Your Majesty-"

"Well then! That settles it!" and the King opened the door, leaving Hiccup sitting alone in a dark room, stunned and confused on what to do. He now realized why the Queen took on many of the duties in the kingdom.

**Two Days Later**

Merida decided not to go to breakfast. Every time she attempted to look her mother in the eye, her hands went numb and she felt like throwing up. Instead, she sat in her bed, still in her nightgown, staring out the window. Occasionally a lone bird would fly by, disturbing the peaceful view of the sky. The loud shouts and calls of businessmen and buyers from the marketplace flowed into her room.

Slowly, she walked in front a mirror sitting in the corner, letting her reflection come into view. It was obvious she was in shambles. Her hair was even more raggedy than usual, though it had lost some of it's fiery radiance, and her cheeks were stained red with tear streaks bleeding down her face. She sighed at her reflection and walked back over to sit back on her bed. Pulling her covers over her, she rolled over thinking about her mother from a week before as she had every night.

Suddenly, she heard a knock at her door and she sat up, expecting Maudie or one of the other maids.

"Come in," she called in a hoarse voice, about to pull her nightgown off, but stopped when she realized who it really was.

"Hi." said Hiccup, stepping inside, a small brown package in his right hand.

"Oh," Merida cleared her voice, "Mornin', Hiccup."

Hiccup walked over, holding up the package. "I brought something for you."

He sat on the bed next to her, carefully unwrapping a small, shiny metal object. Holding it up, Merida could see it was her request. Hiccup placed a beautifully carved silver necklace with a Celtic design of three bears into Merida's hands.

"Sorry it took me so long." he said. "Ailean worked me hard, and some days I couldn't even work on it." Hiccup hid the fact that for the past two days, he had worked on nothing but the necklace.

Merida held it up, looking at its beautiful radiance in the morning sun, the hand-made chain sending pieces of light into her eyes.

"Thank ye." said Merida fingering the beautiful jewelry. "Oh, ah still need t' pay ye."

"No, you don't have to pay me for it."

"Aye, ah do!" Merida stood up, looking him in the eye.

"Well, then. Give this to your mother, and I'll accept that as payment." Hiccup smiled at her, but Merida's eyes were filled with fear, and she began to panic.

Shaking her head, she took a few steps back, shoving the necklace back in Hiccup's hands. "No, no. Ah can't."

"Sure you can! I'll even go with you." Then in a swift movement, Hiccup put an arm around her back and pushed her through the doorway. Normally, the princess would be much stronger than this skinny blacksmith, but there was a part of her that wanted to follow him to face her fear.

The two of them walked downstairs, Merida's eyes widening with each step. After what seemed like an eternity, they reached the dining table, where the rest of the family members were waiting. Hiccup half-guided, half-pushed Merida over to her mother, and he and the King, along with the princes left the room just after shoving the necklace into her hands.

For a while, Merida just stood there, opening and closing her mouth. The Queen didn't even look at her daughter, her eyes widened as well.

"Ah-Ah brought somethin' fer ya." Merida sputtered.

The Queen's head turned slightly as Merida held her hands out, revealing the ornament. Her eyes widened for a moment, recognizing the design, and her eyes focused on Merida.

"I thought you said you lost it."

Merida didn't want to deny it, but she couldn't hide the truth from her mother any longer.

"Ah had used it ta pay fer th' spell ah used to turn ye into a bear. Hiccup was kind enough ta make a new one fer ye."

Elinor ran her slender fingers over the object, lifting it from Merida's trembling hands. But as soon as Merida felt her mother's touch, she fell apart. Her hands dropped and tears fell like comets from her eyes.

"Ah'm sorry mum! Ah never hated ye! Ah was jus' scared! Scared ah couldn't be th' daughter ye wanted!"

Elinor quickly stood and wrapped her arms around the girl, tears rolling from her eyes as well.

"Oh, Merida. I couldn't have asked for a better daughter." she squeezed hard preventing Merida from wrapping her own arms around her slender mother.

Kissing her daughter's head, she whispered three sweet words that resolved their problem for eternity...

_...I love you..._

**Snow**

Stoick was able to cope with the disappearance of his son since Astrid left with Toothless, but after the second month he began to worry again. Then another month flew by and there was still no sign of Astrid or Hiccup. By now winter had come, the blistering winds stinging his face whenever he took a step outside, so he couldn't stand by the docks as he did before. To make matters worse, Snoggletog was on it's way, and this would be the first year celebrating without his son.

Pushing his way through the snow, he carried a boatload of dried fish to the Great Hall for some of the homeless dragons. As he opened the doors all the scaly creatures lifted their heads, excited for food and tackled the chief. Pushing them off him, he threw the fish to the middle of the hall, the dragons following after it, devouring every speck of meat. Closing the large door behind him, he entered the cold again, making his way to his home. The falling snow wasn't too thick, and the lights from the houses helped him to find his way through the village, but his thoughts drifted to Hiccup again, wondering if he was alright...or alive. Grunting, he plowed through the snow, shoving most of it away so he could open his door, the warmth of a small fire welcoming him in as soon as it budged.

But to his surprise, a familiar figure was curled by his fireplace, blowing on their hands to try to warm them, though their breath was just as cold as the rest of their body. Small icicles slowly melted off their blonde braid.

"Astrid?" Stoick exclaimed, rushing over. He could see she was very weak, as well as Stormfly who was curled up next to her.

"Chief Stoick!" she tried to get up, but her hand shook, and the large man placed a hand on her shoulder, allowing her to rest.

A bit excited from her appearance, he looked up the wooden stairs hoping to see another familiar figure.

"He's not there." said Astrid. "We never found him." cold breath ran out of her lungs as she tried to explain herself, "After my own food ran out, Stormfly hunted for a bit more for my sake, but soon the fish began to thin out, and we had to turn back."

"What about Toothless?"

"He's probably still out looking. That dragon will keep going till he dies."

Stoick nodded, and grabbed a blanket to wrap the freezing viking in while he placed a dried fish over the fire.

"How far did you get?"

"We went East for a while, then I noticed the weather was getting warmer so I guess we were headed South. It's hard to tell where you're going in the middle of the ocean." she coughed out more cold air, scooting a bit closer to the fire to warm up.

"How'd you find your way back then?"

"I don't know..." Astrid was getting warmer, though she still shivered violently. "I just said to Stormfly that we ought to head back, and she just began to fly toward here." she looked over to her blue dragon, "It's like they have a sense that allows them to return to wherever they've lived before."

The chief raised his eyebrows, "It'd explain how all the dragons could find their nest before."

Astrid nodded then the room was filled with more coughs. She raised her hands, rubbing them together, putting them close to the fire. It was at that moment that Stoick noticed her fingers were a bluish-black color. His eyes opened wide, and immediately he grabbed a bucket of water and put it over the fire, then he grabbed more blankets and threw them over Astrid, who began coughing more and more. She kept coughing till a red liquid seeped between her lips, and Stoick knew he had to get help. After throwing a log onto the fire to get it blazing, he ran out the door to find someone who would know what to do. As he was gone, Astrid ran over in her mind the journey they just endured.

_I should've kept going..._ she thought in her mind as she watched the flames lick the bottom of the bucket of water. _We could've kept going...Why did I say to stop?..._ A tear rolled down her cheek.

_...I'm sorry...Hiccup..._


	7. Chapter 7

**Winter Fun**

_... . . ..._

Hiccup wrapped himself in a cloak given to him by Queen Elinor, and trudged along the stony path, neatly covered in snow. His fake foot made a racket as it did every morning, annoying and waking many of the villagers. Finally, he reached the shop, a blazing heat blowing into his face as he walked in. Satisfied, he unwrapped the cloak, set it on a wooden table then moved to the back to see what Ailean needed him to do that day.

Hiccup had gotten used to living in Scotland after the four months of hiding his identity and living as a blacksmith apprentice. He had been able to learn all the different roads and areas of the kingdom in that short time thanks to all the errands Ailean sent him on. His longing to return home still lingered and the aching in his heart for his friend remained, but as time went by, it lessened ever so slightly.

"Glad ye could make it." Ailean said as he hammered against a strangely bent sword. Whoever was fighting with it obviously had no idea how to handle it.

"Yeah. Well, is that today's main project?" Hiccup replied, gesturing to the heated sword, and a pile of other broad swords he noticed were sitting in a pile next to Ailean.

The blacksmith nodded, "More or less. Army never takes care o' their own swords. Got ta do everythin' fer them!" Aliean mumbled a bit more as Hiccup lifted a small amount of the weapons to the furnace so the blades would be malleable enough to bend back into shape. He then grabbed a shovel to feed the fire and threw coals into the flames.

Hours went by, and soon Hiccup became hot from the blazing furnace and the constant moving throughout the shop. Taking a break from his work, he set down one of the bent up swords and opened a window to let the cool winter air blow in his sweaty face. Outside, people were walking, children playing, businessmen shouting. He sighed as a smile grew on his face. Though he missed the viking life on Berk, he couldn't help but love the land of Scotland.

His smile grew wider and he began waving his hand high in the air as he saw a familiar redhead figure skip down the cobblestone. Merida waved back and quickened her step to meet her friend.

Hiccup opened the door for her as soon as she was close enough, and she removed her own black hooded cloak that she always used.

"Phew, it's quite hot in here." she exclaimed, setting her cloak next to Hiccup's.

"How was your lesson of the day?"

"Alright. Ah may not be very good at sewin' tapestries, but mah mum an' I discovered ah do pretty well with yarn. So she got me on a new crochet project. She says it's SUPPOSED to be a blanket, though it looks more like a scarf at th' moment."

Hiccup chuckled at her as he got back to work, despite the heat filling his head again. Merida sat in a stool by his work space as she continued talking. The day went on like this as usual. The princess always felt comfort when talking to Hiccup now, since he was the catalyst of her and her mother ever coming together again. Though soon she began to get tired of sitting in the shop, since she was doing most of the talking anyway. So she picked up a sword Hiccup had just barely finished repairing, and swung it close to the young blacksmith's face, nearly cutting him.

"Woah, woah, woah." said Hiccup, raising his hands. But Merida lunged at him with another attack, forcing him to scramble away.

"Hey! C'mon this isn't fair." he protested. She swung the large blade again as Hiccup dodged. "I don't have time for this today...and I just fixed that!" He continued to dodge and run as she added a few more dents and scrapes to the shop around them.

"Learn ta fight an' ah'll surrender peacefully." Merida replied with a smirk, taunting him as she threw him a sword. Hiccup groaned as he caught it. Merida had been trying to teach him to fight for weeks since he seemed like such a weakling, though he always complained about being tired or not having time to learn, so Merida would often challenge him to a duel randomly during the day.

"Now then..." she said, raising her blade to defend herself for any attack Hiccup would send at her, though he gave none. She narrowed her eyes, then sent another swing at him. He raised his own blade to block her attack, though the force of it sent him stumbling backwards, pushing him out the door and into the frosty cold. He quickly gathered himself up and began running away as he saw a small figure with a sword charging at him.

The pair of them ran all throughout the village, sometimes knocking into people, earning some negative remarks and exclamations, others just laughing as they saw them run by. Unfortunately for Hiccup, his new prosthetic made it hard for him to run, especially when he had to lug a broadsword with him. His breath trailed behind him, though not for long when his metal foot came in contact with a stray piece of ice on the stone, and he was sent flying on his back. A loud _THUMP_ was heard as he collided with the ground, his sword falling away from his hands.

"Are ye alright?" Merida's long curls were soon in his face as she crouched over him.

"Yeah..." he huffed, trying to sit up. She grabbed his arm and pulled him up, allowing him to sit in the snow for a bit to rest.

"Maybe next time ye'll consider facing me instead of runnin' away." she smirked after confirming he was okay.

Hiccup gave her a glare, then picked up the fallen sword, "Well now I have to go sharpen these...again." He reached over to take the sword from Merida's hand, but she pulled it away.

"No, ye need ta take a break. Ye've been workin' too hard. Here..." quickly, she grabbed the sword from Hiccup's hand, and gave them to a local boy, instructing him to run them over to Ailean. Then she pulled out a few coins from her pocket and placed them in his hands. After the boy had run off, she turned to Hiccup who was now standing.

"Now I'm covered in snow..." said Hiccup, raising an eyebrow to Merida.

"Well, it was sort of yer own fault."

"True. But I don't have to be the only one." suddenly he pulled a snowball from behind his back and threw it at the unsuspecting girl.

She raised her arms just in time before the powdery snow exploded against her body. Laughing, she gathered some snow in her cold fingers and shaped it before letting it sail through the air toward Hiccup. Soon a fight broke out, and snow was flying everywhere. Some of the village children passing by decided to join in the fun, and they even created teams, some on Merida's, some on Hiccup's. A few even tried to create a fort to hide behind, but their absence from the fun was noticed, and they were pelted with snowballs from every direction.

Merida laughed and laughed till she couldn't laugh any more, and she threw herself into the snow. She looked up to the sky. _Was it dark already?_ The gray sky had darkened, and though no stars were showing, everyone could tell nightfall was upon them. Many of the children said goodbye and ran off to their warm homes.

Hiccup plopped down next to Merida, his face bright red from all the excitement. For a moment, they just sat there, looking up at the sky, allowing the energy to drain from them.

Merida exhaled, a white puff of air disappearing in the gentle wind. Soon, the streets were empty, and all that remained was the princess and the blacksmith.

"Thank ye, Hiccup..." Merida said, breaking the silence.

"For what?"

"Bein' a friend. Ye've only been here a short while, yet yer th' person ah trust the most. Ye've listened to mah problems, an' even solved one of them fer me. Ah only wish ah could do the same fer you." She looked over to see his reaction, but his expression was blank.

Hiccup searched through his thoughts in his mind. She trusted him, yet knew practically nothing about him. He should tell her who he is. No. He needed to tell her. _I can't keep going on like this forever._ He thought, but nothing came up. He opened his mouth to force the words out, but he had no idea what words to utter.

"Merida..." was all he could mutter.

"Hmm?" her eyes were still fixed on him, searching for something they could not find.

Though Hiccup remained silent, his mouth still open, trying to find the courage to tell her everything. But in truth, he was terrified. Scots and vikings were enemies. Would she be angry with him? Or worse, would she really try to kill him? In his months of living there, he knew there was no possible way he could stand up to her in a battle. Not that he would ever want to. She was his only friend at the moment.

"What is it?" Merida was beginning to get impatient.

Hiccup knew he couldn't tell her now. There was no way. Quickly he searched for something to say in his mind that hopefully wouldn't sound stupid as soon as he said it.

"Uhhh...wwwwhen's your birthday?" he shut his eyes. It even sounded stupid in his mind.

"Mah birthday?" Merida raised an eyebrow, still looking at Hiccup. "Well, if ye must know, ah was born in th' summer. No where close to now."

"Oh...glad to know I didn't miss it!" Hiccup looked over at her, trying to give a weak smile, but it didn't seem to phase Merida.

"So what about you?"

"Huh? me?"

"Aye! When is yer birthday?"

"Oh, well...my birthday was a few weeks ago."

"WHAT?" Merida sat straight up. "Why didn't ye tell me?"

Hiccup shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't think it mattered much..."

"It most certainly DOES matter! How old are ye now?"

"I'm still only seventeen."

"'ONLY seventeen' ye say? Yer practically a man now!"

Hiccup chuckled. He never considered himself ever becoming a man. Especially since he had to eventually fill his father's shoes as chief of the village. If he ever got back, anyway.

"Age doesn't define whether you're a man or not. Where I come from, it's what you do. How much glory you can attain. I'm not a man."

Merida could see a sad look in his eyes. It was at times like this when he seemed so distant.

"Not yet." she added in to his statement.

He gave a sarcastic scoff before turning his head away from her. In the distance he could see the snow covered ships neatly tied to the docks.

Merida could tell he didn't want to talk any longer, though it burned her inside every time he did this. She wanted to know more about him. Where was he from? What did he do? Why is he here? She sighed. Now was not the time for that.

They both looked back to the sky, and remained in silence for another hour. By then the sky had darkened even more, and a shiver went through Merida's body. Winds blew in from the mountains as they finally decided to get to a warm fire in the castle. The two teased each other for not remembering the cloaks that they left in the blacksmith's shop. Though each wrapped themselves up in blankets after changing into dry clothes, curling up next to their own personal fireplaces. Soon they passed into a deep, deep sleep.

**Memories**

_There it was. Red Death. The monstrous beast of the Dragon Nest. Hiccup could see his reflection in three of its six eyes. But where was Toothless? He looked behind him to see his father with someone. "Mom!" he ran off to her, but she began to sink into the ocean with Stoick. He tried to dive into the water, but it was frozen solid. Under the ice he could see Toothless at the bottom, tied up in the very trap he first caught him in. He tried to break the ice, but Toothless seemed to get farther and farther away with every hit. He looked back to see Red Death throw something at him with its mouth. It was a leg. Hiccup's left leg that he lost before. Blood ran from the end of it, surrounding Hiccup and swallowing him up. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't see. He couldn't even move._

Hiccup gasped. He was still on the floor when he fell asleep next to the fire, which had died down. He began pulling his blankets off him which were wrapped tightly around his arms, legs and neck. He looked around, letting reality come back to him. Sighing, he curled up, pulling his knees close to his chest. His nightmares haven't been that bad in a while. Desperately, he pulled out his notebook, flipping to a familiar page. There, he saw his first sketch of Toothless. A small teardrop fell, smearing some of the fading charcoal.

**Interrogation**

A few mornings after the snow fun, Merida came to a decision. Quickly she got dressed in a dark green dress, clipped her quiver to her waist, and grabbed her bow before making her way down the stairs. As usual, everyone else was already eating breakfast. As she made her way to the table, she eyed everyone that was there. Elinor was pouring over letters and documents, some she could tell had the seal of the clan leaders on them. The boys were stuffing their mouths in a hurry to get into mischief while Fergus and Hiccup ate in silence.

"Morning, dear." said Queen Elinor, not looking up from her letters. "Did you sleep well?"

"Well enough." she replied. "How did everyone else sleep?" she said loudly, startling a half-asleep King.

"We had a good night's rest, right Fergus?" Elinor said, trying to keep her husband awake.

"Aye..." he said groggily.

The triplets nodded to their sister, then ran off upstairs with devilish little smiles on their faces.

"What about you, Hiccup?" Merida questioned, coming up next to him.

Hiccup looked up at her, slightly confused at her demanding tone. "Uhh...good I suppose?"

"Good, then ye have energy for a ride. Let's go." Merida grabbed his arm and dragged him outside.

"Woah! Ohhhh-kay?"

Elinor eyed her daughter as the pair left the room. "Merida, where are you going?" But the princess didn't reply as the large oak doors closed behind her. She looked back at her husband for an answer, but she became slightly annoyed to see his eyes closed and his chin resting on the table.

Meanwhile, Angus carried a young pair on his back through the forest. The trees were still painted white, and the crisp air penetrated all their lungs with each crunch of the snow the horse's hooves made. Hiccup had no idea what was going on through Merida's head. He held himself to her back tightly as to not fall off the steed, occasionally getting a mouthful of red hair. Eventually Merida allowed the horse to slow to a walk, letting everyone catch their breaths.

"What are you doing?" said Hiccup, letting go of her waist.

"So ye slept well, huh?"

Hiccup's eyebrows furrowed, and he leaned over to try to see her face. But her mane prevented him from seeing anything. "Yeah..." he said slowly. "Why is that-"

"Do you always sleep that well?"

Hiccup grabbed her shoulder. "Yeah, sure. What is this all about?" he tried to turn her, but she shrugged him off.

"Why do ye lie to me?" she pulled the reigns and Angus halted to a stop.

"What? I-I didn't."

She turned to face him. "Ah can hear ye at night. Ye can never get a good night's sleep."

"Okay, sure. I toss in my sleep, that's no reason to get so huffy."

"Ye also scream. Ah can hear ye calling something, but every time ah try ta make it out, it changes to something else."

"So I talk in my sleep too. What does this have to do with anything?"

"Who are ye, Hiccup?"

"What?"

"Ah can tell ye have nightmares, but of what? Yer scared of somethin', but ah don't know what it is."

"Well, what business is it of yours?"

"Hmph." She clicked her tongue and Angus continued walking. "Was it any business of yours about mah mum an' I?"

"Okay, fair enough. But why be so forceful?"

"Ah'm makin' it so ye can't run away again. No more smithin', no more gettin' distracted."

Hiccup looked around. He had been in the forest with Merida before, though he didn't know the land as well as she did, so there was no way he could find his way back.

"In all truth," Merida continued, "Ah'm worried about ye. Durin' the day, ye seem normal an' fun. But sometimes ye become all distant...an' in pain..." she looked straight ahead of her. "Ye helped me already. Ah want ta help ye, but ah can't. Ah know nothin' about ye, an' it hurts...ah promise ah'll listen the way ye listened to me..."

Hiccup sighed. He knew he had to tell her sometime sooner or later, but this was all too sudden. He wasn't prepared at all. Where should he start? Without thinking, he slipped off the still moving horse, nearly falling on his face from the fall.

"What are ye doin'?" Merida stopped Angus and got off, making sure he was alright.

"I'm fine. But I think we should sit down if you want to hear my story." Hiccup brushed some snow off a fallen tree and sat down, gesturing for Merida to do the same. After tying Angus to a small tree, she sat down next to him, waiting.

"You're right. I did lie to you." Merida shifted her cloak to hide her discomfort. She was a bit hurt from his statement, but she was glad he was finally talking to her. "You remember how I told you how I lost my leg?"

She nodded, "Ye stepped into a fire."

"Also a lie. My leg WAS burned, but only after battling a large dragon."

"DRAGON?" Merida stood up. "Dragons aren't real."

"Yes, they are. I even trained one."

She took a step back. "Are ye makin' fun of me? Ah was just tryin' ta get ta know ye so ah could help ye!"

"No, I'm not making fun of you. It's the truth I swear."

"Ah may not be as smart as you, but ah'm not thick."

"Merida, please try to understand." Hiccup himself was now standing as well. "Some things are difficult to understand, I get it. Okay? I didn't believe in magic till you told me you turned your mom into a bear. Where I come from, we don't have magic, but we do have dragons."

"An' WHERE are ye from?"

"I'm..._sigh_...okay. I'm from an island called Berk."

"Never heard of it."

"Probably because we're one of the smallest viking clans out there."

Merida's blue eyes widened. "Yer a viking?"

"Okay, yeah. I'm a viking! From the Hairy Hooligan tribe to be exact."

Merida couldn't take it any longer. "Yer not a viking! Vikings are supposed ta be large, bulky, and cruel! Ye can't be a viking!"

"I AM a viking."

"No! Stop lyin' ta me!" she pushed him over into the snow. "Ah don't want any more lies!"

She turned to untie Angus, but Hiccup was too quick, and he tackled her to the ground. "Wait!"

"Get off me!" she screamed.

"Would you please just listen to me?" he tried to keep her pinned to the floor as he spoke. "My full name is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, son of Stoick the Vast, chief of our tribe. I may not look like a viking, but it's true. In fact, I was a disappointment to my father. Our tribe has been battling dragons for centuries, and to kill a dragon meant everything. Unfortunately I messed up a lot, and I became the laughing stock of the entire village."

Merida didn't want to listen, but every word was engraved into her mind. But there was no way she was going to believe any of it. She forced a jab into his ribs, causing him to stop talking, and she escaped to try to loose Angus again. When Hiccup tried to advance on her again, she raised her bow. She had notched and arrow while he gathered himself, and it was pointing between his eyes.

"Stay back."

"Merida, please try to understand."

"Ah don't have to. Ye can't be a viking. Vikings attacked our shores, nearly destroying all of our clans. Ye can't be." The arrowhead in front of Hiccup's face began to shake as her hands quivered.

"But I am. And I'm sorry for not telling you sooner."

A tear rolled down Merida's red cheek. "Why didn't ye?"

"Well, knowing you were a Celt, I had my own reservations about staying with you. Vikings aren't the only cruel ones."

"What did we do to YOU?"

"You took my mother from me."

Merida lowered her bow. As soon as he said it, Hiccup no longer held an expression of fear, but one of anger and sadness. He sat down in the snow lowered his head.

"When I was only six, my parents and I went out to sea. What for, I no longer remember. We were about to pass a Scottish ship, but they started to attack us. Once we drew them back, they began to shoot arrows at us. My mother was the only one that was hit because she was protecting me."

Merida crouched down next to him. She remembered how her own mother risked her life fighting against Mor'du as a bear. During the entire fight, Merida was afraid she would lose her.

"What was her name?" Merida managed to choke out.

"Vahallarama." said Hiccup quietly. "Every now and then since she died, I would write letters to her, asking her to come home." he pulled out his small, leather notebook and handed it to Merida. "You can read some."

She a bit struck. "No, if it's for yer mum, ah can't read it."

"It's okay. She can't read them now anyway." he said, and he tossed the booklet at Merida's feet.

Hesitantly, she picked it up and opened to the first letter. She looked at Hiccup one last time, but his eyes were focused on something that wasn't in that world. She looked down and began reading...


	8. Chapter 8

**A Son's Letters**

Dear mom,

Where are you? Did you make it to Valhalla*? What's it like there? Is it as good as everyone says it is?

I miss you. I'm sitting in front of your grave now with dad. He misses you too, and he's very sad. Everyone says it will be difficult for dad to raise me on his own. But I was a good boy. Right?

Please come home. I promise I'll be good if you come back.

I love you.

Hiccup

Dear mom,

Today I turned ten. Though I seemed to be the only one that was excited. Birthdays have been less fun since you left. I remember you used to make sure everyone was in the Great Hall having fun and celebrating. But today the only one that celebrated was me. Dad gave me some extra fish for dinner though. I think he wants me to get bigger, though I'm still skinny. Why am I so different? All the other boys are bigger than me. Even some of the girls are bigger.

People tell me I won't be able to be as good a chief as dad. But I try really hard. Sometimes I go out during dragon raids and try to see if I can kill a dragon. I almost got close to a Gronckle. Though dad doesn't want me going outside. He doesn't think I can kill a dragon at my age. But I heard the story of when he killed a dragon when he was really little, so I think I can do it. I'll try harder next time.

I still miss you. When are you coming home? I hope you're safe.

I love you.

Hiccup

Dear mom,

My arms are really tired today. Gobber had me working in the smithy a long time today. I tried harder like I said I would, but the dragon saw me coming. It was a Deadly Nadder. It shot spikes at me, and I had two stuck in my side. It hurt really bad. Unfortunately, when dad came to help me, the dragons made off with more sheep than usual. He told me I was forbidden from stepping outside again. But I've already decided I would kill a dragon, so I'm going to share a secret with you. You can't tell anyone. Promise? Okay, I'm going to kill a Night Fury. No one has killed one yet since you've been gone, so I'll be the first. I told Gobber already. He says I can't do it. But I will. I'll do it for you. I promise.

I really miss you. Oh, and if you're able to see Gefion**, would you mind asking her to send me a little luck?

I love you.

Hiccup

Dear mom,

Gobber told everyone about my plan to kill a Night Fury. Everyone told me I was crazy. You remember that one girl, Astrid? She stuck her tongue out at me. Girls are so weird.

But I figured out my full plan to kill a Night Fury. I'll have to trap it first. It's too fast for me to kill it while it's moving, so I'll trap it, then I'll cut out its heart.

Mom, do you think if I kill a Night Fury, dad will love me? Sometimes I wonder if he wants me as a son.

Still missing you.

I love you.

Hiccup

Dear mom,

So much has happened. I don't really know where to start. I should have written to you sooner, but I've been pretty busy.

My plan worked. I trapped a Night Fury. It was a lot different than I expected. They have shorter necks than Zipplebacks, but longer than Gronckles. They're completely black, but they have green, cat-like eyes. Also, they have retractable teeth! But I didn't kill it. I don't know why, but when I looked at him, I just couldn't do it. His eyes were so big...and scared. He looked terrified to die. I'm sorry I broke my promise. I'm really sorry. I hope you can forgive me, but it turns out when I trapped it, one of the tail fins on the dragon got ripped off. In all honesty, I feel kinda bad. When dragons fly, they use their tails to point where they're going. But thanks to me, Toothless (I decided to name the Night Fury "Toothless" because of the retractable teeth) can't fly on his own.

So I made him something. I thought about how Gobber has a prosthetic hand and leg, and I thought to myself, "Why can't a dragon have the same thing?" so I made a fake tail fin. Though he can't fly without me. I have to help him open it up since the wind keeps blowing it shut.

Thanks to Toothless, I've learned so much about dragons. Oh, and dad finally allowed me to get into Dragon Training, and I was able to use what I learned from Toothless in the ring. Like, I discovered if you scratch the scales of a dragon under the chin, it will fall to the ground and lie there for a moment. They really like that.

But I have a problem. Yesterday in Dragon Training, I was chosen to kill the Monstrous Nightmare in front of the entire village. But the thing is, I don't want to kill dragons anymore. They're not as bad as everyone thought. The truth is, they're being controlled. I know, it's confusing, but it's true. But I took Astrid for a ride on Toothless (...it's a long story...) and while we were flying we found the dragon nest. All the dragons are in a sort of trance, and they have to bring back food for a giant dragon that is pretty much the size of the entire village. Yeah, it's that huge. I think we should call it Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus. But if they dragons don't bring back enough food, they get eaten themselves.

Maybe if I can show everyone dragons are not as bad as everyone thinks, we can live in peace like Toothless and I do. (Oh, and on a side note, after our dragon ride, Astrid kissed me! ...on the cheek but hey, a kiss is a kiss right?)

Well, tomorrow I'm going to face the Monstrous Nightmare. Wish me luck. Hopefully everyone will understand. And I hope you of all people understand.

I miss you more than ever.

I love you.

Hiccup

Dear mom,

Nice to know I'm not dead. Nearly died though.

I did my best to show everyone dragons were harmless. I placed my hand in front of the Monstrous Nightmare's nose like how I did to gain Toothless' trust, but things went wrong after that. No, it didn't bite my hand off, though it almost did when dad startled it.

Long story short, it attacked, and Toothless somehow came to my rescue, only to get captured. Call me an idiot, but I let it slip about the Dragon's Nest to dad. He went out and used Toothless to find it since only a dragon can find it, and I couldn't do a thing. All I could do was watch them leave from a distance.

But, thanks to Astrid, and all the others who were in dragon training with me (Snoutlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut) I was able to snap out of it and go after dad to try to stop him. Or save him.

Unfortunately, by the time we got there, Red Death (what we actually called the Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus) was out of the volcano, and dad was trying to fight it. Or...more of distracting it. I think he was trying to get it's attention so everyone could get away. He's a good chief like that.

Well, we found Toothless, but I wasn't strong enough to free him, and if it wasn't for dad, I think we both would have drowned after falling in the ocean.

And guess what? Just before I left to face Red Death, dad took my hand, and said he was proud of me. Can you believe it? DAD SAID HE WAS PROUD OF ME! I had never felt happier in my life!

Well, just to keep you up to date, I did face Red Death, and Toothless and I managed to beat it. Turns out dragons may be fireproof on the outside, but not so much on the inside. Though because it was so big, after we set fire to it, it pretty much sent off a giant explosion, and I fell into it.

Of course, I'm fine. But not all of me made it back. When people die? Do they get their limbs back? Because if not, the next time you see me, I won't have a left foot. But now Toothless and I match. He doesn't have a left tail fin, and I don't have a left foot. Now we can't go anywhere without each other. But I suppose that makes our friendship stronger.

Also, what are you wearing right now? Cuz dad and I have been wearing your breastplate on our heads...as helmets. It was his idea to always remember you, but if you want it back, I completely understand.

Things have been better in Berk now. We even set up a new Dragon Academy to train dragons instead of kill them, and there is a lot more peace here than ever. So you can come home now. You can even have your own dragon. I feel like you would like the Fireworms. They don't engage in battle, they're afraid of fire, but their skin is so hot. Even hotter than the sun.

You didn't like battle much either, but you had something about you no one else had. And I miss you for it. Please come home.

I love you.

Hiccup

Dear mom,

It's Snoggletog! Our very first Snoggletog with the dragons. Oh, and you remember our trip before you...got shot? How you told me one day I might find out why the dragons don't come to attack for a couple weeks? I figured it out! Apparently they leave around the same time as Snoggletog to a warm island to breed.

I remember Snoggletog when you were still here. You always used to put a little something extra in my helmet. And you always carried me on your back when heading up to the Great Hall for the party. Dad always made sure to be next to you, holding your hand for the group dances, and I was on your other side.

I miss you. I miss the way you yelled at dad for drinking too much. I miss you being the last thing I saw before falling asleep. I miss your laughing when Uncle Spitelout, Gobber and dad would sing ridiculous songs at the top of their lungs. I miss how you always used to stroke my hair and kiss my head before sending me off to bed so I wouldn't stay up too late. Please come home so we can spend Snoggletog together.

I love you.

Hiccup

Dear mom,

Please don't hate me, but I forgot today was your anniversary. I've been so busy with the dragons that it somehow slipped my mind. Here I am in front of your grave. I brought Toothless along so he could meet you. I think he likes you.

Dad and I have been getting along better, and I have a girlfriend believe it or not. You remember me telling you my foot was missing? Well, the day I found out, Astrid kissed me! Not on the cheek though, on the lips. So things have been going well...sort of.

I have a question to ask: How did you get people to look up to you? I mean, I know you were the chief's wife and all, but even if you weren't, I'm sure people would still hold you with respect. People tell me it was because you were a great speaker. Dad says it was because you had a light inside you and you made sure everyone saw it and respected you for it.

Today, people hold me with respect, but as Hiccup, slayer of Red Death. I think they all remember me for something I don't want to be remembered by. Sure, it was a great thing for both us and the dragons, but I don't want to die and have people think of me as a Dragon Slayer. For years, I have wanted recognition and respect, but now that I have it, I don't want it any more.

Please help me. I still miss you. Do you miss me?

I love you.

Hiccup

Dear mom,

Something extraordinary happened. After I finished writing that last letter, Toothless and I got caught in a storm. We were scared to death, and we tried to fly through it, but the winds were too strong. Both of us were sent flying into the ocean, and that's how we got separated.

I tried to swim to him, but it was really dark and cold. Soon I got tired, but I knew I couldn't stop. Then, when I thought I'd drown, I woke up in a foreign land. I am now a guest of a royal family in Scotland. Can you believe it? The very people I hated and despised had saved my life. Though I don't think the people here are the ones who killed you. I only wish I remembered what the symbol was on the ship that attacked us.

I think you'd really like it here. It's warmer than Berk, and the people are a lot more nice to me. They have a monarchy here, and the king's name is Fergus. He too is missing a left foot. Though he lost his to a demon bear whose name I cannot remember for some reason. Kind of embarrassing since he talks about it all the time. He's pretty much a big as dad, though he's a lot closer to his family.

Though he is king, the queen seems to be the one who's REALLY in charge around here. She's called Queen Elinor, and she actually reminds me a lot of you. She's not much of a fighter, but whenever she speaks, she can make anyone hold their tongue. Though she has an air about her that is so...intimidating. I dunno, it just feels like whenever she looks at me, I feel like she's going to bite my head off.

They have four children. The three youngest are triplets. I would guesstimate their age to be seven, but I should probably ask. They're quite fun to be around, though sometimes it's slightly annoying since the LOVE to prank everyone and everything.

And then there's the eldest, which is a girl. Her name is Merida. She was the one who saved me from my watery grave. I'll admit, there's something about her that is slightly...familiar. She's not your average princess that you hear in tales about the Scots, instead she's strong, brave, and adventurous. She's quite the archer, though I always feel a bit uncomfortable watching her shoot since that's the weapon that made you...you know. But she and I have become somewhat friends. Not quite sure how she feels just yet, but I hope we can become great friends in the future.

The land here is beautiful, but I still miss Berk. I made it out of the storm somehow, but I still have no idea what happened to Toothless. I suppose everyone might be worried, but I haven't seen anyone yet. Who knows, maybe I'll be stuck here forever. I have no idea how to get back to Berk. All I know is that it's North.

Now, I've said many times before that I hope you come home. If you get there before me, could you let everyone know I'm alright, and tell dad not to worry about me. And if Toothless made it back home, tell him I'm sorry.

But if you want to come here, that's fine too. I wouldn't mind seeing your face again. Even if it's only for a second, I want to see you again. Hopefully sooner than later, because I think my memory of you is beginning to blur. But I don't want it to. Please, please come home. I miss you too much.

I love you.

Hiccup

* * *

*In Norse mythology, Valhalla was a realm presided over by Odin, and he and his Valkyries choose those who have fallen in battle to join them.

**Norse goddess of vegetation and fertility. She symbolizes luck, virginity, fertility, and growth.


	9. Chapter 9

**Reaction**

It was very cold. Snow covered the glen like a blanket, icicles glittered like diamonds in the afternoon light. It seemed all the water in the land had froze, except for hot tears dripping onto the ground.

All the while Merida read the letters, she couldn't help but silently cry. Just a few moments ago she was ready to shoot her friend, now all she can feel is guilt and sadness. Occasionally, there were moments she wanted to ask Hiccup about a few things she didn't understand, but she couldn't stop reading. By the time she had, she couldn't even mutter a word. The leather booklet trembled in her cold hands, her bow and readied arrow now lay uselessly next to her leg.

Hiccup sat perfectly still like a carved statue. Never looking up, never saying a word. He simply waited for her to finish.

They remained in silence as a confused Clydesdale watched their every move. All he knew was Merida was in distress, so he tried to inch his way to comfort his owner by blowing her hair with his nostrils as he always did, but he was too far away. He snorted and stomped the snow, trying to get her attention, but her face remained hidden. It was only when he gave a small whinny when she finally looked up, but not at him. Her face was instead turned to the viking.

In all seriousness, she had no idea what to do. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to think. True, he was a viking: an enemy to the clans since before time, but he was unlike any other viking she imagined. And he himself proved he was harmless, he even let her see something very precious to him. But what if he was lying to her? A lump formed in her throat, but she coughed it away before talking.

"What was yer mum like?"

Hiccup still didn't look up, though his eyes traveled along the snow in front of him. "She wasn't strong in muscle, but she was strong in words. Everything she said sounded like dragon fire or silver bells. She was the only one who accepted me as I was, and she encouraged me to do things differently than everyone else."

He went silent again, though now he began picking at a stick fallen from a tree. Merida looked back to the letters, trying to imagine Hiccup's mother reading them. Quietly, she closed the book and handed it back to Hiccup.

"Ah'm sure she's very proud of you." she said in an attempt to bring him back to Earth.

Hiccup still didn't meet her gaze. He just raised his hand to take the book and opened it to a fairly recent page. It had a strange drawing on it that Merida saw briefly as she flipped through the pages to find the letters. After turning it around, Merida could see it took up both open pages, taking the shape of what appeared to be a dragon. It had a wide wing-span protruding from its front shoulders, while a smaller set of fan-like wings opened on the hips. On the tail were two fins, though the left one looked as though it had been drawn, smudged, then re-drawn.

"This is Toothless." said Hiccup, "Meeting him was probably the best thing that happened to me, but it doesn't matter much now. I lost him in the storm and there's no way I can go out to find him."

The lump came back to Merida's throat, a surge of pain beating itself through her heart and into her head.

"But," he continued, "By losing him, I found new friends that accepted me for who I was, not what I did. Everyone back home only recognized me when I did well at dragon training, or when I defeated Red Death. So...oh gosh, what am I trying to say?...Thanks, I guess."

The corners of Merida's mouth raised a little bit, but fell again once she looked back to the faded drawing. Her head began spinning, and she looked away. She sniffed away another tear before she could look back at Hiccup, who was waiting for a word, a phrase, but Merida turned away again as guilt filled her entire core.

She kept glancing back at him, but never said a word. Though that was all Hiccup wanted at the moment. He needed an assurance that he made the right decision, and that he could trust her.

"Merida..." he started after a few long moments. "I-"

"Ah'm sorry ah pressured ye so much." Merida said quickly, interrupting Hiccup.

Hiccup smiled a bit. He felt better now that she was speaking. "That's alright." he replied.

"No, it isn't. Ye already had enough pressure from yer home, an' ah pressured ye ta get somethin' only fer myself. Ah was selfish, an' ah shouldn't have forced ye out here."

"The way I see it, you freed me."

Merida gave him a quizzical look. "In what way?"

"Well, when I first woke up, I knew I was in Scotland. Our tribe has been enemies with the Scots since forever, and I had no idea what to do. I thought if I let any of you know I was a viking, I'd be killed on the spot. Well, I guess I came close anyway."

Merida quickly looked to her bow and removed the arrow, placing it casually into her quiver.

"But everyone saw me for something I wasn't. So by you forcing this out of me, it allows you to see the true me. The me I want people to see. Not Hiccup: the Lost Boy, but Hiccup: The Viking. Because that is what I am."

Merida looked at him, studying his eyes. He seemed to want her acceptance as a viking, but a small part of her still couldn't believe it. In only a few months this boy had become her best friend, now he was the enemy. She shook her head at herself. He was no enemy. He was still the Hiccup she had learned to become friends with.

"That ye are. Yer a viking. A strange one ah'll admit, but ye still are one. Which brings us to a problem."

Hiccup's eyes widened. He was soon filled with fears that she'd once again try to shoot him, but this time she wouldn't hesitate.

"As ah said before, viking once attacked our lands causing many deaths, so mah parents might not be too happy about a viking boy, let alone the son of a viking chief sleeping in their home. So, ah'll make ye a deal. Ah won't tell anyone about ye, if ye can forgive me fer draggin' ye out here."

Hiccup was a bit taken aback. He was expecting the worst, now it all seems too simple. Merida eyed him, seeing his hesitation. She smiled, ready to take advantage of it.

"O' course, ah could always just tie ye up now an' lead ye to th' gallows."

Now Hiccup was more confused than ever. "Wait, WHAT?" he stood up, ready to run as fast as he could, though once he was on his feet, Merida burst out laughing.

"Ah'm just kiddin' ye ninny! But ah was bein' serious about the deal. Ah promise ah won't tell a soul."

Hiccup looked into her blue eyes, never noticing before how bright they were. "Alright, sure."

She sighed, "Thank ye."

They remained just staring at each other for a few minutes, silence only being interrupted by the occasional splatters of snow falling from the overhanging tree branches. It was only until a whinny from a cold and impatient horse snapped them back into their senses and they decided to head back to the castle.

**Decision**

The kingdom of DunBroch was not the only place freezing over. Miles away the island of Berk and its inhabitants shivered under the cold clouds that poured buckets of snow and hail on their heads. One certain citizen shivered more than anyone as she was constantly watched over, the fire pit next to her blazed day and night to keep her warm. It was decided she be kept in the house of the chief since it was the warmest and there would be the least amount of activity to disrupt her. It was only when someone else came to take of her did the icy cold hit her face. Her fingers were now bandaged and placed in hot water daily so as to preserve them, though the fear of having to cut them off filled everyone's minds.

"Astrid, you feeling any better?"

Her eyes were open, though she was still very weak from her long journey. Though Phlegma, one of the women from the village, was in charge of watching her, Stoick had come from his duties to see her.

Astrid nodded her head slowly, though she durst not try and sit up. Stoick nodded to Phlegma, and she responded with another nod before leaving the small wooden house. The large man pulled a small stool next to where Astrid lay, making sure not to scrape the wood against the floor.

"I'm sorry if this is too early, but I have a few questions to ask you."

The blonde pulled her blanket up closer to her cheek before she responded. "Anything, chief."

He sighed, he knew her condition was still bad, but there was something he desperately needed to know.

"While you were out looking, where there any islands you came across that Hiccup might have landed on that Toothless perhaps just passed over?"

Astrid shook her head, "No, I don't believe so. Any island we came across was either too small for him to hide on, or Toothless would fly around making sure he wasn't even in a crack of a rock."

"And when you turned around, there was no sign of an island that he might be on?"

Once again, she shook her head. "We were in open ocean all around when I made the call."

Stoick nodded, staring at the floor in deep thought. He was back to the decision he had to make back when they first noticed Hiccup was missing. Though he knew there was only one thing he could do. He sighed again as he raised one of his large hands to his forehead, and he rubbed his temple to ease the pain.

The Hofferson girl knew he was in distress, and he knew the decision he had to make. "I'm sorry chief. We could have made it if we kept going."

The chief shook his head. "What you did was a noble thing, Astrid. We are all thankful to you for going as far as you did. We couldn't have trusted this task to anyone else."

Her blue eyes told him she thought differently, but he decided to drop the matter. He turned his thoughts again to the problem with Hiccup. They both remained in silence, as they knew the only option they now had.

Suddenly, Stoick stood up, accidentally knocking over the stood he was sitting on. To compensate for the noise, he grabbed another blanket and placed it over Astrid's body. Quickly he left the room, allowing Phlegma to go back in, then briskly walked over to Gobber's dragon dentistry shop.

"Gobber!" he called. "Gather everyone in the Great Hall! We're having a meeting."

The blacksmith looked up from his work. He was trying to floss a Monstrous Nightmare's back tooth, but the creature wouldn't stop moving. Frustrated, he gave up and let it fly away as its owner ran off after it.

"Aye? And what are we meeting about?" He said, wiping his hook.

"Just get everyone there." Stoick said as he walked by. He himself made his way to the Great Hall, closing the large doors behind him. He braced himself on a table, shaking his head. He knew what had to be done, though not only would it break his heart, it would cause chaos within the village. But it had to be done...

**Books, Books and More Books**

Hiccup yawned as he closed yet another book. Sleepily he grabbed the next book and opened it to the first page. He groaned as he continued reading, remembering the previous day when Merida mentioned something that excited him.

_"Hey, Hiccup!"_

_"What?"_

_"Ah know ye mentioned yer mum was taken by some Scots."_

_"Yeah, so?"  
_

_"Well, ah don't know if it would help or not, but we have a library on th' far side of th' castle that holds all the records of th' clans. We might find somethin' there."_

_"But what if it has nothing to do with your clans?"  
_

_"Well, it also contains other clans we might've traded with, their attitudes, what they traded. Hiccup, we could find out who killed yer mum."_

Unfortunately, she didn't mention exactly how many books and scrolls they really had. All the walls and shelves were packed high to the ceiling with military records, trade orders, laws, everything that went on in the kingdom of DunBroch. Though now he was only scanning the words on each page, he felt like he was going to throw up if he opened another book. Groaning, he looked over to Merida, who seemed very absorbed in a book about military defense. Unlike Hiccup, who had put all the books he already finished reading back on the shelf, Merida had stacks of books scattered all around her, some still open as if she never finished reading them.

Sighing, Hiccup found a loose thread off his green tunic and used it as a bookmark before closing his book and walking over to Merida. Noticing his presence, she half-closed her book with her finger still holding her place.

"What is it?"

"By the looks of it, we probably won't find anything tonight. I think it's best we call it quits for now, then just start again tomorrow."

Merida nodded, "Alright, but..." she looked back to her own book.

Hiccup gave a small chuckle. "Go ahead and finish, but you better put back all the other ones."

As soon as he finished speaking, she quickly opened her new strategy guide and fell into the book again. Sighing, Hiccup made his way back to his room where he would finish this one last book, then hopefully get some sleep. Tucking it under his arm, he looked back at Merida one last time, then closed a large, oak door behind him.

**Declaration**

It was noisy in the Great Hall. Everyone in the village was in attendance, except for Hiccup and Astrid of course, so it was hard for Gobber to maze his way through the people in order to find Stoick. With his hook still attached to his arm, he pushed people aside, sometimes accidentally scratching a few in the back or arm. If some of the villagers weren't scoffing at him or yelping in pain, they tried to direct him to where they thought Stoick might be. After a few minutes of shoving and yelling, Gobber finally managed to find the chief looking at the portrait of him and his son. Gobber didn't dare interrupt the chief from his thoughts, but the villagers were getting restless.

"Stoick..." he started, the chief only turning halfway as a response. "It's time to start."

Stoick sighed, then made his way to a large platform at the end of the Great Hall.

"Attention, everyone!" he bellowed, and the crowd turned their faces to look at their chief who had suddenly called this meeting.

"Thank you all for coming here, especially on such short notice, but I'm afraid if I don't tell you all now, I might not have the strength later..."

Some of the crowd murmured, but died once he began talking again. Stoick had never been so emotional during a speech before.

"Four months ago, my son, Hiccup, disappeared after a storm blew him and his dragon into the sea. As you all know, we sent the dragon with Astrid to find him again, but only half the party returned home. Even in her condition, Astrid Hofferson has told me there was no sign of Hiccup. There's no point in sending another search party if they already searched as much as they could, and with the winter frost this bad, we'd have to wait until spring anyway."

"But what about the six-month law?" a voice called from the back. It was followed by many nods and murmurs of agreement.

"Pipe down! The chief has a lot on his mind!" Gobber yelled over the crowd.

Stoick gulped down hard to keep away the tears he shed earlier, "I understand our law, that after six months if someone missing is not found, they-" he cut himself off. He didn't need to finish. All the other villagers knew the rest, but they remained silent out of respect.

"Though it has only been four months, I have decided to do this now, so we may use the remaining time to mourn. As Stoick the Vast, chief of Berk, I declared Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III...my son...to be dead..."

**In the Dead of Night**

Queen Elinor stood up from the table to silently stretch her neck and shoulders. She had been pouring over letters from the clans and reading complaints from farmers and merchants from the town, all the while stressing through the bitter cold of winter. She rubbed her arm through her blue sleeve that was almost hidden by a deep purple dress that the queen only wore during the winter for its thickness and warmth.

Leaving her letters and statements on the table, she made her way upstairs to check on her husband. He said before that he was going to bed, though sometimes if he was really tired, he didn't always make it. Slowly, she opened the door to their bedroom slowly and peeked her head in. Sure enough, he was fast asleep in bed, their fireplace still blazing with heat. She smiled to see her husband to clam and vulnerable. She closed the door, then made her way back to the many letters she still had yet to respond to.

Though she stopped by the guest bedroom, as light poured out of it, and she poked her head in as she did before to see Hiccup, fast asleep on the floor next to an open book. He was curled up with the decorative furs that lined his floor, though his own fire was just about as lively as he was. Chuckling, she grabbed a blanket off his bed and wrapped it around him to keep him warm. As soon as it was around his body, he grabbed the top of it and pulled it closer to his cheek.

Smiling, she closed the door behind her and made her way again. Then she stopped and began thinking of all the other children. Pacing herself, she walked to the triplets' room, and gave a heavy sigh once she found them all sound asleep. Their mischievous little smiles were still planted on their faces as they dreamed of all their successful pranks and jokes. Elinor was smiling again, it wasn't very often you get to see the triplets sitting in one place for more than five minutes. Gently, she pecked each one of their foreheads before whispering _I love you_ in their ears.

Briskly, she walked out to check on her firstborn. She opened the door to her daughter's room just as cautiously as she did with the others, but something was different. Merida's room was completely dark, not even a small ember remained in her fireplace. Quickly, the queen lit a small candle on Merida's desk, only to see her daughter missing from her room. She gave a small panic inside, then calmed herself down as she remembered what room she and Hiccup had declared what room in the castle they would visit that afternoon.

Taking the candle with her on a small, brass candle holder, she made her way down a couple flights of stairs and across the hall to a large room filled with books, papers and scrolls of all kinds. Sure enough, at the end of the room, Merida was curled up with a book whose pages were starting to wrinkle because of Merida's strong grasp. The queen strode along the stone floor, careful not to make as noise to disturb her daughter, then began returning the many books sprawled along the floor to their proper places on the shelves. Finally all the books were in order, and there was only one left. Carefully, she pried the book from her fingers, allowing Merida's cold hands to fall into her lap.

Turning the book over, the queen examined the cover and was surprised to see what kind of literature her daughter was reading. Merida was in the middle of reading a book about the history and laws of DunBroch. Her daughter had never taken such interest in the diplomatic ideals of her kingdom before. Smiling, she set the book down on a stool and bent over to scoop her daughter into her arms. Merida responded by grasping her mother's gown, though her eyes remained shut.

Slowly but surely, the queen carried her daughter back to her room. She was heavier than she last remembered, but she didn't mind. As soon as they were safe behind Merida's door, Elinor took the responsibility and changed Merida's clothes so she was in her nightgown. Elinor chuckled a bit, a small stream of excitement went through her as she performed a chore she didn't have to do for years. Finally Elinor laid Merida's head down on her pillow and pulled her blankets close to Merida's many curls surrounding her face.

Leaning down, she pecked Merida's cheek whispering, "Goodnight, my wee one."


	10. Chapter 10

**An Unlikely Meeting**

"So, what were all yer friends like on Berk?"

Merida and Hiccup were traveling on a familiar road through the forest, someplace they could be alone and be able to talk about Hiccup's viking life. Though they were only walking and Angus was miles away in the castle stables, Merida still shot her bow at her scattered targets she hid in the forest. Ever since she discovered he was a viking, Merida had been asking him all sorts of questions about Berk.

"Well, I don't have very many friends, but then again there aren't that many kids my age on Berk. The twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut are the definitions of danger and disaster. Snoutlout is...well put nicely he's a hothead. Fishlegs can be shy, but he loves dragons and he keeps track of everything we do with the dragons. Astrid...well if you take the beauty of a sunrise and the ferocity of a Deadly Nadder and put them together, you'd get Astrid."

"Ah suppose her name is fittin' then."

Hiccup raised an eyebrow.

"Well, that's what her name means, right? It's Germanic for 'Divine Beauty.'" Merida said, trying to explain herself. "She must be quite popular on Berk."

"She is. And I think you'd like her. You both have a lot of the same qualities."

"How so?"

"Well, you guys are certainly no damsels in distress, you take matters in your own hands, and I'm pretty sure if I went up against you in a battle, I lose within the first five minutes."

"Heh, you'd lose within the first three."

He gave her a mocking laugh, "Thanks, I really appreciate that."

"Well, ah suppose yer lucky ta have her then. If ah remember correctly, she's th' one who kissed ye?" Merida nudged him in the ribs with her elbow, causing him to blush and stumble a bit.

His face remained red as he mumbled and slurred through his words. "Yeah,sowhatifshekissedme?Itwasanicekissbutstill.. ."

Merida laughed at his shyness, seizing the opportunity to poke more fun at him. "So does that mean ah'm hearin' about a future wife of th' chief then?" she nudged him again, though this time he pushed her away to get her out of range, but Merida didn't stop laughing at him.

"Well, it doesn't matter much now. I have no way of getting home, and by the looks of things she may have to be stuck with someone else."

Merida stopped laughing. Though she loved having Hiccup here in DunBroch, he didn't belong here and he needed to get home. "Hiccup?"

"Yeah?"

"If there's anythin' we can do ta help ye, don't be afraid ta ask."

"Thanks, Merida. But I don't know there's much of anything that anyone can do."

The just kept walking for a while, Merida still thinking of way to help Hiccup. Perhaps they could give him a boat, but he has no idea where his island is. If they sent a large crew with him, then they'd have to explain the whole situation of him being a viking, and that might not go over well. She sighed, then kicked a branch out of the path. She pulled her cloak tighter around her arms as a biting wind blew across their faces. As it died down, she heard a small sound.

"Do ye hear that?" Merida said, turning to Hiccup, who was busy brushing snow off his head that dropped on him from a towering tree.

"Hear what? The wind?"

"No, not th' wind. Listen..."

A faint, high pitched call blew through the trees from what seemed like every direction. It was minuscule, like a whisper, yet it seemed somewhat...familiar...

In a split moment, Merida knew what it was. She turned her head in every direction, trying to find the source of the noise.

"Merida, what are you doing?"

She turned to Hiccup who had a confused look planted on his face.

"Can't ye hear it?"

"Hear WHAT?"

"Shhhh!" She began looking around again, though the sound seemed to be fading. It was getting farther and farther away, but it was calling to her, coaxing her. Then a small giggle ringed in her ears and she turned to face Hiccup. Then there it was. A small, blue, translucent flame beckoning to her just a few yards away from where Hiccup was standing. Immediately she dashed off toward it, pieces of snow flying off her hair as she nearly tripped over a log with her winter boots.

Hiccup was utterly confused, and he turned to see what she was running after. But she nearly knocked him over as she tripped, and by the time he picked himself up, she was gone, and so was the object she was chasing after. Sighing, he dusted himself off, then started trekking up the hill she disappeared over. He continued walking, the snow soaking into his fur boot. Finally he made it over the hill, but Merida was nowhere to be seen. All that was there was a clearing that Hiccup had seen before.

He made his way to the middle of a ring of large stones the stood at least 20 feet high. Only one was cracked and fallen over from the time the Queen killed Mor'du. It looked much different than when he saw it earlier. Now everything was covered in ice and snow, giving an eerie mood to the whole scene. Everything seemed cold and lifeless as no amount of color showed through the landscape, except for Hiccup himself.

After a moment of taking in the scenery, Hiccup remembered why he was there, and looked around for Merida. Of course, she was nowhere to be seen. He looked around the ground to find her footprints so as to follow her, though something was off. He looked back to where he entered the ring of stones, and he saw two sets of footprints, one from him and the other from Merida. Though at the entrance of the stones, Merida's footprints disappeared. A bit bewildered, Hiccup looked up to see if it was possible for her to jump on something, but even Merida's athletic ability couldn't beat the height of the boulders.

He retraced his steps, making sure he didn't just cross paths with her, but it was all in vain. Merida seemed to have just...disappeared. Panic filled his mind as he fell into the snow, his hands trembling in fear. He knew Merida had encountered magic before as she told him, but even then he had a hard time believing in magic. _Ugh, my head hurts..._ he thought to himself as he grasped a large amount of his brown hair to ease the pain.

"Are you alright, laddie?"

Hiccup quickly turned, expecting to see Merida, but instead he saw a rather old woman with silvery hair that puffed out due to its curly texture. Her back was bent forward far, making her look as though she would fall over at any moment, and she was wrapped in a tattered, green cloak. Hiccup was surprised she wasn't freezing in such a thin covering.

"Uh, no." he said, releasing his hair. "Well, yes. But...ha-have you seen a young girl run by here recently?"

"A young girl?" she said, walking over to Hiccup. Though he thought she waddled more than walked.

Hiccup stood up, "Yeah, she's wearing a deep blue cloak; got blue eyes; bright, red, curly hair."

"Ah! you mean that lovely princess from the castle up the road?"

"Yes! Yes, her! Do you know where she went?"

"Well, I haven't seen her for a while. I was hoping she'd come back to view what I had in stock. Completely ran me out last time."

"When's the last time you saw her?"

"Oh, about a year ago."

Hiccup groaned. That was no good. Who knows what kind of trouble she's getting into, not to mention he doesn't know the way back as well as she does.

"Well, thanks anyway..." Hiccup then turned to leave the way he came. Hopefully he could just follow his footprints back and then he could tell the king his daughter is missing. He shivered at the idea as he looked for his footprints where he entered the ring of stones. _Wait...where are they?_ Hiccup looked around, but all his footprints had vanished. He looked up. The snow looked as though no one had ever been there before, but no snow was falling. In fact he swore he could even see a few holes in the clouds where he could see the sky.

He looked over to the old woman, as if she had the answers, but she just smiled at him innocently and said, "Are ye lost, laddie?"

He looked back to the ground, expecting the footprints to appear again, but they didn't. "Yeah...I think..." he responded.

"Well, would you like to come to my house for a nice, hot drink? It's been a while since I had visitors." She turned and began waddling away toward the edge of the forest.

Hiccup hesitated. Sure, a warm drink sounded nice in this weather, but Merida was still gone. He looked around, trying to find her bright, red hair against the dull snow, then started after the old woman.

He followed her deep into the forest where they zigzagged through trees and bushes that decided it would be fun to entangle themselves with Hiccup's borrowed cloak. After a few moments of wrestling with a few thorny plants, he managed to free himself and continued following the woman. Occasionally, she would look back and smile at him as if he complimented her or something, then turn back around and keep walking. This made Hiccup wonder if he really should be following her. She could be leading him into a trap, getting him off his path then robbing him or something. He eyed her physique, trying to see if her "waddling" was just an act. Though it pained him to watch her, thinking in his mind that she could really use a cane.

Eventually they made it to a small cottage. Just like everything else, it was covered in snow with icicles hanging over the door and window. Right next to it, a large amount of lumber was stacked as high a the roof. Through the window, he could see the flickering light of a fire, making him eager to enter the house. She opened the door, allowing him to enter the house first and taking in the view before she offered him a seat.

It was only one room, with a fireplace in the corner that sat next to a small stove and a sink. A rug with an colorful design that looked almost like bears dancing and playing fiddles and bagpipes. There was a small bed with many quilts and a desk lining the wall o the right of the door, and finally, near the sink there was a wooden table with a few chairs. The old woman offered him one, allowing him to sit close to the fire. Thanking her, he sat down, pulling off his cloak so all of his body could feel the radiating heat.

Soon she came over with two mugs filled with some hot liquid. Handing one to Hiccup, she sat down next to him, taking large gulps of her drink. Hiccup eyed his own mug, watching as the drink moved around the edges in his shivering hands. He took a sip, bracing himself like he did whenever he tried something new, though he relaxed as the hot liquid rolled over his tongue and seeped down his throat, warming him to the very bone.

The woman smiled, happy to see her guest so satisfied. Putting her own cup down, she finally perked up a conversation.

"So, how do you know th' wee princess of DunBroch?"

Hiccup looked at her over his cup, then finished his last gulp. "She rescued me from the water after I was cast adrift from a storm. She and her family have been taking care of me ever since. What about you?"

"Oh, she was an old patron. She bought everything I had in stock. Don't know what she did with it all, but I'm sure she put it to good use."

"What do you sell?"

"I'm a woodcarver. I sell all kinds of carvings. Furniture, trinkets, frames, everything."

Hiccup traveled through his memory, trying to identify all the carvings that were stationed in the castle. He gave up after a short while due to the many artifacts that the family of DunBroch owned.

"I'm sure you have some nice carvings then. I'd like to see some one day. Where's your store?"

The woman's eyes suddenly went wide for some odd reason, "Ah! Well, I still have to set it up. It may not be here for a while, winter issues." After she was done talking, she gave him a big smile, then quickly began drinking some more as Hiccup raised an eyebrow.

"Well, you have a nice house."

"Thank you. Though it had to go under some renovation."

"How come?"

"To be honest, I have no idea. I cam home from the Wickerman's festival in Stoneleigh one spring and it was completely demolished! Took some effort getting it back together before the ice set in."

"Okay..." he said slowly, "Well, it was nice meeting you..."

"You can just call me the Crafty Wood Carver."

"Right...but I should be going. It seems to be getting late, and I still don't know where my friend is." He stood up, wrapping his cloak around his shoulders once more.

"Oh, well alright. It was nice having you over, I hope you come back to visit."

"Yeah sure...if I can find it again..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" He opened the door, and stepped into the cold winds. She followed him out, guiding him and giving directions.

"If you follow those brushes, it should lead you back to the place I found you at."

"Okay. Thanks for sharing your fire with me, and your beverage. It was really nice."

"Of course, dearie. Now take care!"

He nodded and turned to keep walking, but he turned back around once he heard her door open again, and he saw her come out, close the door, snap her finger and walk back in. She did it so casually as if she did it on a regular basis, not noticing Hiccup staring at her just a few feet away. Curiosity getting the best of him, he walked back to the cottage and looked through the window. To his surprise, he could no longer see the orange, moving light of a fire, but instead it was very dark inside, making it hard for him to see anything. Confused, he opened the door without invitation and walked in.

Inside was the same size, but there were many wooden carvings of figurines and curios, many of which had a bear-like shape. Hiccup stood, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. He looked over to find the woman staring back at him, frozen in motion with her hand in the air holding a hammer while the other held a wedge in place on a rather large piece of wood.

"Oh! Hello there!" she said, pulling a fake smile. She dropped her hammer and chisel and quickly walked over to Hiccup. "Sorry, but I don't have time to talk right now. You know, it's best you forget what you saw here, now I'll be seeing you later. Ta-ta!" She started pushing him out the door as she spoke, his metal foot scraping across the floor.

"Wait...wha-?" Hiccup tried to stay inside, bracing himself between the door posts. "Hold on! Are you a wi-"

"Yes, I'm a woodcarver. Thank you for shopping at the Crafty Carver, goodbye!"

"Just wait a second!" He pushed her back, and closed the door so she couldn't force him out. "Are you a witch?"

"No, I'm not! And I don't care if any wisps led you here, or even if Saint Nicholas led you here for me ta give you a spell. Just get out now!" He began pushing him again, but this time the door opened by itself and Hiccup had to once again hold himself in by wedging himself between the door posts.

"Woah, woah, calm down. I don't want any spell!"

She stopped forcing him out and took a step back. "You don't?"

"No, why would I want a spell?" He smoothed out his clothing, trying to get out all the wrinkles the woman made while shoving him.

"Well, magic CAN be handy at times. There are spells for breathing underwater, strength of ten men, I could even do something about that leg of yours." She pointed to his left foot as the metal squeaked under his weight.

"Uh, no thanks. It's fine the way it is." He smiled a bit as he remembered his long-lost friend. "Though something I wouldn't mind would be if you could show me how I'll look in the next few years."

"What do you think I am? Some fortune teller? Besides, I am officially out of the witchcraft business, I put my cauldron to rest, and I haven't done any spells since that redhead girl."

Hiccup's eyes widened ever so slightly, "Wait, YOU'RE the witch that turned Merida's mom into a bear?"

"Hey! I didn't turn her mother into anything! She asked for the spell, I gave it to her. It was her decision to do what she pleased with it!"

"Okay, okay. Sheesh."

"But are you sure you don't want anything?"

"Now it sounds like you _want_ me to buy a potion or something."

"Not necessarily a spell or potion, but a carving maybe because I'm a WOODCARVER and nothing else?"

"Uhhh...no?"

"Oh, well then. GET OUT!" Next thing Hiccup knew, a broom came out of nowhere and smacked him across the face after the witch snapped her finger like how she did outside. His temporary pain was eased once he came in full contact with the snow.

Groaning, he turned to complain, but once he looked up, the witch was gone. In fact her entire house was gone. He looked around to find he was back in the ring of stones. He turned over. This was all too much for him to handle. It was enough trying to accept magic from Merida's story, but it reality of it unfolding before his eyes made him sick to the stomach. Not only that, he met a real life witch. Shoving his face in the snow, he tried to suppress the throbbing in his head.

"Hiccup?" Immediately, the boy turned over to the familiar female voice. Merida was standing in front of him holding a quizzical look on her face. "What are ye doin' down there?"

He wiped some of the melting snow off his face. "N-nothing."

"Well, get up then. It's gettin' dark an' ye know how mah mum is when we come home late." She held out her hand, pulling him off his rear.

"Right. Let's go." They started off into the forest after he brushed himself off, flakes of snow detaching from his hair and cloak. They had only began walking a few feet when he looked back, trying to remember the way to the "woodcarver's" cottage.

"Did ye lose somethin'?" He turned to see Merida's head cocked at him, and he noticed they had stopped walking.

Shaking his head, he turned forward to keep walking.

**Trips**

"So, they didn't lead you anywhere? You just kept going around in circles?"

"Aye, after a while ah just gave up, though it took some time gettin' back to where ah left ya."

Hiccup and Merida were back in the castle, once again in the library pouring over trade routes and clan history. They received a cold scolding from her mother, though it seemed mellow compared to the frosty weather outside. After she was done, they set aside their outdoor attire and went to the dining room to eat. Since everyone else had already finished dinner, they agreed to take theirs to the library, occasionally eating a few bites as they scanned through pages. Hiccup had decided not to tell Merida about the witch, since he had no idea how she's react.

"But I thought you said the wisps were supposed to lead you to your fate."

"Well, maybe mah fate is can't be determined at this point."

"Or maybe your fate is to run around in circles through a forest for the rest of your life!" Hiccup joked. Merida threw a bone from her mutton at his face, the greasy piece of skeleton only barely missing his cheek. He returned the favor by flicking a pea at her that hit right above her eyebrow. Deciding not to start a food fight, she stuck her tongue out at him as she tried not to laugh. Chuckling, they went back to reading. They continued in silence as the fire roared next to them, though they were interrupted when a maid walked in.

"Eithne*? What are ye doin' here?"

Eithne was a small girl, probably in her early teens, younger than Hiccup and Merida. If she could be described through one word, it would be mouse. She had large, hazel eyes with moppy gray hair that fell to her mid-back. She always had a wary eye about her, and she spoke with such a soft voice.

"Pardon me, ma'am. But th' queen would like ta have a word with ye."

"About what?"

"She didn't say, ma'am."

Merida groaned, slamming her book shut and standing from her warm seat just before throwing the book on a cushion. She followed the maid, Eithne up the stone steps, leaving Hiccup alone. Though he was a bit sad she had to leave, he didn't mind the silence. He simply kept reading, searching for a new kingdom or clan that he already hadn't come across. He had been making notes on some of them, trying to narrow down his search on who killed his mother. Suddenly he stopped scribbling in his notebook. What was he going to do once or if he did find out who it was? It's not like he can just waltz up to them and take revenge. Though revenge might not even be such a good idea either. His father might disagree, but Hiccup accepted the loss of his mother, and revenge won't do anything for anyone but bring more sadness. But he did want them to know the pain they caused him. He put his head down like how he did in the snow, his forehead meeting the pages of his notebook.

Moments later, Merida came grumbling and stomping down the stair. Hiccup raised his head to see what was going on. She had a look of annoyance on her face, and he thought he heard some Gaelic curses under her breath. She stopped right in front of him, ready to rant about why she was upset, though she took one look at Hiccup's face, then suddenly burst out laughing.

Hiccup looked behind him, wondering if one of her brothers was pulling a prank on him, but no one was around. He looked back at her, but she was still dying of laughter, but she pointed at his face. He waited till she was finished, glaring at her the whole time hoping she would explain. Finally, she calmed down, sitting herself on the cold floor.

"Ye've got a little somethin' on yer crown." She gritted her teeth to keep from laughing, and Hiccup wiped his forehead and looked at his sleeve to see what had caused so much amusement. He rolled his eyes when he saw a black smudge cover his sleeve. The charcoal from his notebook must have rubbed off when he put his head down. He tried rubbing the rest off, but unfortunately he had no mirror.

"Here, ah'll get it, ye lamb." Merida scooted closer to him, then used the hem of her dress to clean off the remaining charcoal. After she finished, she nodded her head in satisfaction.

"Right, now what was THAT all about?" Hiccup said, gesturing to the library door.

Merida's face fell. Her smile turned to a grimace, and she pulled her knees to her chest. "Mah mum decided ta tell me TODAY that we were leavin' fer th' home of Lord MacGuffin TOMORROW."

"How come?"

"Ah don't know! She probably still wants me ta choose a suitor fer marriage!"

"And she wants it to be the son of Lord MacGuffin?"

"Actually, in mah opinion, Cathal** is th' best choice out o' th' three."

"Cathal?"

"Th' first born son of Lord MacGuffin. He's not bad compared ta th' other two. He's definitely stronger, he's just shy ah guess."

"Well, if he's the perfect choice, why don't you just go ahead marry him then?" Hiccup nudged her leg playfully, but she slapped his hand away.

"Ah said he was th' better choice. Not th' perfect choice. And as far as ah stand, ah still won't marry ANY o' them."

Hiccup raised his hands in defeat. "Okay, okay. But if you already know your mom's motives, why would she wait till now to tell you?"

"Eh, probably so ah couldn't talk her out of it. Ah managed ta get out of meetin' with th' Dingwalls this past summer."

"How?"

"It was durin' th' rainy season, so ah went out ridin' every day an' eventually caught a minor cold. Not bad enough ta be bedridden, but enough ta fake it through."

"Wow, you would risk your own health and safety just to get out of things?"

"Ah wouldn't say ta get out o' things, just preserve mah freedom fer a little longer. Lord knows when ah won't have it anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, ah won't be able to avoid marriage fer mah entire life. Even though ah wouldn't mind it, ah still have duties ta attend to. Ah'm next in line fer th' throne, an' this kingdom will need a new king eventually." Merida sighed. She obviously still didn't like the prospect of marriage, but at least she's accepting it now. Suddenly he eyes lit up.

"Oy! Why don't ye come with us?"

"What?"

"Ta see Lord Macguffin tomorrow! It would make the trip a lot less irritatin'."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Well...I don't know. I just get the feeling I'd just get in the way."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, Hiccup. Yer much more useful than ye make yerself out ta be." Giving him a reassuring smile, she stood up and patted his head before walking out the door. As she made her way up the stairs, she called out to him, "Ah'm goin' ta bed. You should to, 'cause yer goin' whether ye like it or not!"

* * *

*Scottish name meaning "kernel or grain"

**Scottish name meaning "battle mighty"


	11. Chapter 11

**On the Way**

Hiccup shifted in his seat, trying to get in a comfortable position, but no matter what he tried his backside was still sore. The king and queen agreed to let Hiccup join them in their visit to the clan of MacGuffin since he was their guest, but Hiccup felt that maybe he should have stayed back in DunBroch. They had been riding for hours through the forest and Hiccup's entire lower body was screaming at him in pain. Riding a horse was way different than riding a dragon.

He patted his horse's neck to show he at least appreciated it, but then returned to grimacing. It was bad enough riding behind Merida on Angus, but riding on his own was much worse. The horse underneath him was much different than Angus. He had a brown coat, and his head and legs were much more slender. He recalled Merida calling him a "Eriskay Pony" and that his name was "Eacharn*." He looked over to see the other family members, each of the twins in another family member's lap, probably not trusted enough to ride on their own. Everyone else had a Clydesdale like Angus, though the one Queen Elinor rode had a white coat and mane, giving the matriarch an even more regal look, if that was even possible. King Fergus' steed was brown, like Eacharn, though it had blotches of white all over it.

Hiccup jumped in his seat a little when Eacharn gave a small snort. He didn't know what it meant, so he patted his neck again. With Toothless, if they were flying and he made a noise like that, it meant he was hungry. Hiccup must have been hungry too because at that moment, his stomach decided to give a loud growl.

Fergus must have heard it when he chuckled and announced to everyone, "Alright, let's find a good spot and stop for lunch!"

Not long after, they came to a small clearing in the trees. As soon as they stopped, Hiccup got off his horse, relieved to be able to stand again. Only the triplets got off the horses as fast as Hiccup did, but they decided to run around a bit before the food was ready. Merida laid down a large blanket on the snow as Elinor set out some of the food they brought with them. They had decided not to bring any servants with them since this would be an informal trip, and the family liked their moments alone.

"Hiccup, aren't ye goin' ta sit down?" Merida asked, her father was already eating and the triplets started as well.

He hesitated for a moment, then leaned down to sit. He nearly fell over trying to induce the least amount of pain, but eventually situated himself next to Merida. They ate in silence for a while, save the sounds of the wind whistling through the trees, and the laughter and giggling of the triplets.

"Soooo...how much farther do we have to go?" said Hiccup after he had his fill.

"Oh, we're only about halfway there." King Fergus said between bites.

The viking gave a silent groan. He didn't want to ride the horse anymore. He thought of asking if he could just walk instead, but deciding it would be rude, he waved the thought away.

Hiccup waited for Merida to finish eating, then she gestured to him so they could go on their own for a while. With a sigh of relief, he stood up as Merida grabbed her bow.

"Ah! Where are you going?" Elinor called, stopping the pair in their tracks.

"Just ta explore fer a bit. We won't go far."

"Oh no, young lassie. You are going to sit down, and we are going to go over some rules."

"Mum!" Merida plopped herself down again, forcing Hiccup to do the same since he had nothing better to do.

"Now listen. I understand our little quarrel was resolved a while ago, but you still need to act like a lady around the Lord and his family. And that means, no weapons for starters!" Elinor held out her hand at her last statement, demanding the bow Merida was clutching.

"What? No!" Merida raised it to her chest protectively. "Ye can't do that!"

"Merida, this is not a discussion. Give it to me."

The princess groaned, the handed her bow and quiver over to her mother, who gave it to Fergus to take care of.

"Now the second matter, you are not to make fun of ANY of the Lord's children, and ABSOLUTELY no setting any of them on fire!"

"Oh, come on, mum. Ah wouldn't do that ta any of Lord MACGUFFIN'S children."

"Woah, woah. Wait. You set someone on FIRE?" Hiccup interrupted.

"Aye. Guaire**, the son of Lord Macintosh. But he deserved it."

"Merida, no one deserves to get a torch thrown in their face." Elinor glared at her daughter for such rude manners.

"Well, ah'd say a couple burnt eyebrows was an improvement fer his _wee pretty face_!"

"MERIDA!"

Merida quickly shut her mouth after her mother shouted, but her eyes burned at the ground. "Sorry, mum."

"Now then. I would also like you to practice your etiquette while we visit Lord MacGuffin. You'll be in unfamiliar circumstances, and you need to know how to act in certain situations. For instance, not stuffing your gob."

Merida froze as she took a large bite of a red apple she pulled from her bag. Sighing, she took out a knife and cut it into slices. Elinor nodded in acceptance, then continued.

"Now, I won't make you wear anything too formal this time, but I trust you enough to at least present yourself the way you're supposed to."

"Thank ye. Is that all?"

"Aye. After your father is done eating his fill, we better get going so we can make it before dusk."

**Arrivals**

Lord MacGuffin paced around with a stern look. His eyes were hidden under his eyebrows as they usually were, but his blonde mustache and beard accented his frown that moved as he mumbled. His family was with him, as well as his wife who was watching him with a worried look on her face.

Lord and Lady MacGuffin had four children. Three older boys, the eldest being Cathal, and one daughter who had just turned twelve. Like Queen Elinor, Lady MacGuffin prefers to teach her daughter in the ways of a noblewoman so as to prepare her for marriage, though unlike Merida, Sorcha*** wasn't as outspoken and she accepted her mother's instruction. At the moment, she was practicing her calligraphy while her brothers, Brian**** and Catan° played with their Scottish Deerhound. Brian was only a year younger than Cathal, and he looked up to him as an idol. He admired his brother's natural strength and worked hard to be just like him. Catan wasn't as strong as his elder brothers, but he was quite fast in all aspects. He had a quick tongue, sometimes a bit too quick, and oh how he loved to run. He ran so fast he challenged horses to races, though they'd outrun him within a few seconds. Cathal looked out the window from the small room their family was in, a worried look also on his face. Occasionally he would exchange glances with his mother, half-worried for his father, half-worried for their guests who were supposed to have arrived the previous day.

Suddenly the door opened, startling everyone in the room.

"Sir, their Majesties have arrived." said the servant that broke the silence. He gave a small bow before leaving, though he left the door open as the entire family and the dog jumped up and ran out of the room.

Catan was the first to see the new arrivals, running ahead of everyone and stopping right before colliding with one of them.

"Awrite!" he said loudly in front of Merida.

"Oh, hello Catan!" she replied, dusting the snow off her cloak and pulling her hood from her hair.

"Fergus!" Lord MacGuffin boomed as he walked over, his arms outstretched.

"Macrath°°!" they entered into a large bear hug, "Sorry we were so late, friend. Got caught in a blizzard."

"Are ye alright?"

"Aye, now that we're here."

By now the entire family had arrived and was waiting to greet the royals.

"May I present my family," said Lord MacGuffin, "my wife, Muireall°°°; my sons: Brian, Catan, and Cathal, you know; and my daughter, Sorcha. Everyone this is Bear King, Fergus; Lady Queen, Elinor; Princes Hamish, Hubert, Harris; and Princess Merida."

They all bowed and the ladies curtsied, but a voice interrupted the formalities.

"Oh, an' ah hope ye don't mind, but we brought one more." piped Merida. She stepped aside to show the scrawny, brown-haired boy who was actually trying to hide himself behind her. "This is Hiccup, my friend."

Hiccup gave a small smile, then bowed to the family as previously instructed by Merida.

"Ah, of course! The more the merrier!" chuckled the Lord as he nodded his head to the boy. "Now, then. Ah'm sure you're all tired an' hungry, so why don't we go to the dining hall to eat, then ye can rest up for tomorrow!"

They proceeded to a large room, much like the dinning room at the castle of DunBroch, though the room was a bit smaller, and pictures and paintings lined the walls as a lone fireplace in the corner gave the only light and heat beside the candles set up on the table. Many platters of food also lined the long, wooden table, and soon the room was filled with conversation and laughter.

Merida had seated herself between Cathal and her brothers to keep an eye on them, Hiccup sitting across from her between Brian and Catan. Fergus and Macrath had taken the ends of the table, their wives sitting across from one another while they carried a casual conversation about the kingdom and their daughters.

During the first introductions, Hiccup was very nervous about this new family. Though as he talked with Catan and Brian, he relaxed more and more till he too was bursting with laughter. Brian wasn't far from his own age, though with the way he treated Hiccup, he must have thought he was much younger, especially since he valued strength and couldn't help but notice the skin and bones Hiccup was made out of. Though, Catan did most of the talking in the group, telling Hiccup all about how fast he was and what the family was like. Sometimes Hiccup could barely understand him.

"Like Cathal, Sorcha's kind quiet. Though she talks occasionally. Mum hopes she'll marry some wealthy bachelor someday, though ah dunno how that's gonna work out. Ah really like yer fake foot. It has a weird shape. How did ye lose yer leg? Sorcha makes weird stuff too. She likes to make stuff outa mud an' clay. Though nothin' like that. Did ye make it yerself? Hey, Sorcha! Take a look at his leg!"

Hiccup leaned over to get a better look at the daughter, though once he caught her eye, her cheeks went beet red and she turned to her mother, pulling her blonde locks to the side of her face so no one could see her. Shrugging, Hiccup turned back to eat and listen to Catan's continuous talking.

The night droned on, but as soon as one person gave a small yawn, they all decided it was time to go to bed. Soon they were all stumbling over the stairs, the last few laughs escaping their mouths. The DunBroch family crawled their way to a large guest bedroom prepared for them, inside there were two large beds, one for Fergus and Elinor, the other for the triplets and one smaller cot for Merida.

A bit dizzy, Merida turned to the Lord. "Where is Hiccup gonna sleep?"

"Oh, sorry bout that. We didn't know he was comin'."

Hiccup gave a sheepish look. "Sorry."

"Don't worry, lad. Cathal has an extra cot in his room. Ye can sleep there if ye want."

"Thank you." Hiccup followed Cathal down the hallway and into a small bedroom where Hiccup found a large bed, a small cot in the corner as the Lord said, though the place was littered with weights, furs, and to Hiccup's surprise, a large amount of paintings.

"Here." said Cathal quietly, handing a blanket to Hiccup.

"Thanks." he said, taking it in his arms and making his way to the cot. It was bigger than him, though it was probably built for something larger in stature than him. Wrapping himself in the blanket he rolled onto the cot. He heard a rustling behind him indicating Cathal had gone to bed as well.

For a while, there was nothing but the crackling of a fire next to Cathal's bed. Then...silence.

**Return to Darkness**

As usual, there was a nightmare. Hiccup seemed almost used to it now. He even seemed aware of it while dreaming. He looked around, seeing a familiar town, familiar people, familiar animals. Berk. His home. He looked up. There was Toothless, flying high above his head. His bright red prosthetic tail glistening in the hot sun. He called out to him, but he just kept flying away. Soon he was nothing but a shadow on the horizon. He looked around again. Berk was no longer there. It flew away with Toothless, now taunting him on the water's edge. He reached out for it, a tear falling down his cheek, but it just disappeared off the edge of the Earth. He turned to find what else from his past could taunt him, but all he saw was Merida.

She was smiling at him, her beautiful smile pulling him out of the water where he stood. But once he was on land her smile faded. Tears welled in her eyes, and she began crying. Hiccup didn't understand. Why was she crying? Then she was being pulled away from him, no. She was falling into a pit of flames. She cried out to him, but he couldn't reach her. "No!" he cursed.

"MERIDA!" he gasped. Hiccup panted hard, back in Scotland.

Cathal grunted, and rolled in his sleep, apparently not too disturbed by Hiccup's sudden awakening. Running a hand through his hair, he took some deep breaths, then laid back down on the cot. For a few moments he closed his eyes, though he couldn't sleep again after that.

**A Day With MacGuffin**

Hiccup could tell where the MacGuffins lived was very different than the DunBrochs. There weren't a many trees, which was probably the reason why the wind felt harsher in the blizzard from the previous day as they got closer to their destination. The land of MacGuffin consisted mostly of clear plains, a frozen river flowing down from a distant mountain far in the distant morning fog. The town of the clan was much smaller than DunBroch, but the people were still just as polite. As the two families and the straggler moved through the town, there were all sorts of greetings and gestures.

Lord MacGuffin had decided to take everyone ice fishing in a lake on the other side of the plains that the family had been going to even before Macrath had become a Lord. Hiccup was thankful they weren't riding horses again, though the triplets had decided it would be fun to ride on the MacGuffins' Scottish Deerhound around in the snow as they ventured. They talked as they did the night before, sharing stories and events as they walked, Hiccup learning more and more about the different clans.

Based on Brian and Catan's descriptions, the other two clans are nothing compared to them. The Macintosh clan apparently had no idea how to fight, and Clan Dingwall was just full of idiots. From this Hiccup could conclude one thing: The MacGuffins took a lot of pride in their clan.

Though amiss all the laughter and talking, Hiccup couldn't help but notice one member of their party was silent. His roommate, Cathal MacGuffin was constantly looking at the ground, watching flakes of snow fly as he kicked them. Hiccup was about to go over and talk to him, but Brian and Catan kept pestering him with questions and facts. Before he knew it, they were at their destination.

Hiccup looked around. This lake truly was in the middle of nowhere. He couldn't even find the town they left behind so long ago even though there were very few trees and the winter weather had taken away all the leaves anyway. The lake was frozen solid, at least until some of the MacGuffin boys started chiseling into the ice so they could start fishing. They decided to only do three holes for time sake, and soon they were split off in different corners of the lake. Fergus and Macrath had gone to one hole, gesturing to their wives who decided it was too dangerous and forbade the youngest from going out onto the lake. Brian and Catan took another hole, leaving Merida, Cathal and Hiccup at the last one.

Merida was excited at first, though soon she became very bored. She had never gone ice fishing before, and now she sees why. She always took her bow to the river to fish where they were clearly visible and she could just shoot it, but this time she had to use a rod, and wait for the fish to come to her. To make matters worse, neither Hiccup nor Cathal seemed very talkative. Sighing, Merida took off her gloves and started rubbing her hands together. Though she regretted it since the wind suddenly picked up and it bit her fingers as it passed. Frustrated, she put her gloves back on and eyed her companions.

"So," she started, "How have ye been, Cathal?"

He shrugged. "Alright, ah suppose." he said slowly.

She gave him a smile. Ever since the battle of the suitors, Cathal had been trying to change his dialect around the other clans so he could speak to them easier. Though she felt a bit sorry for him. He had to try to change a part of who he was, like how Merida's mother tried to change who she was.

Unfortunately, Cathal didn't seem to want to carry the conversation anymore, so Merida turned her attention to Hiccup.

"How do ye like th' plains, Hiccup?"

"Nice. It actually kind of reminds me of home." He looked around him, imagining large, wooden houses and dragons flying about.

"Where do ye live, Hiccup?" Cathal questioned.

Both Hiccup and Merida's eyes widened and they looked at each other, unsure of what to say.

"I, uh...I live in, uh-"

"Hiccup lives up North in Iceland."

Merida and the viking exchanged looks, then Hiccup nodded to the Lord's son.

"Yeah, I was traveling South to visit some family, but we got caught in a storm and I washed up on Merida's shores."

Cathal raised his eyebrows. "Really? You survived a storm? How did you manage?"

"Well, I was unconscious most of the time, but I was *cough* thrown overboard and I haven't seen my family since."

"Do you know where they are? We could probably take you to them."

"Oh, well...to be honest, I have no idea. But thank you for the offer."

Cathal nodded to him, then he focused on his fishing pole again.

Merida sighed. Silence had overtaken them again and now it seemed talking was too risky for Hiccup. Out of boredom, she began humming a familiar tune, one she sang often, but mostly just with her mother. It sounded like a lullaby, especially since Merida closed her eyes as she hummed. She swayed back and forth to the slow, steady beat, but she stopped altogether when she opened her eyes to see Hiccup and Cathal staring at her, mouths slightly agape.

"What?" her face turned sour.

Cathal shrugged his shoulders. "It sounds nice."

"Thanks."

"What's it called?"

"Ah'm not to sure. Mah mum an' ah used ta sing it together when ah was a wee lass."

"What are th' words?"

Merida's eyes widened for a second. "Well, brace yer ears, lads. Ah'm not much of a singer." She coughed, clearing her throat. The boys scooted closer to hear her voice clearly before she began.

"A naoidhean bhig, cluinn mo ghuth

Mise ri d' thaobh, O mhaighdean bhan-"

"I remember this song!"

Cathal and Merida turned toward Hiccup who had so rudely interrupted her song. Realizing his mistake, he tried to explain himself.

"Well, i-it's just that I remember you-uh...*ahem* singing that song when we first met." he stuttered.

"What? No ah wasn't."

"Yeah. I'm guessing your mom had you sing it to 'sustain your voice better' or something like that."

Merida stared at him for a moment, views and thoughts of lessons and practices moving past her eyes. "Oh, ah remember now. I was thinking of when ah pulled ye out o' th' water. Ah forgot ye were unconscious till later."

"Yeah...sorry for interrupting. Please continue."

Merida scrunched up her face. She didn't feel too pleased to start all over, but it couldn't be helped.

"A naoidhean bhig, cluinn mo ghuth  
Mise ri d' thaobh, O mhaighdean bhan  
Ar righinn oig, fas as faic  
Do thir, dileas fhein  
A ghrian a's a ghealaich, stuir sinn  
Gu uair ar cliu 's ar gloire  
Naoidhean bhig, ar righinn og  
Mhaighdean uashaill bhan"

The young men clapped after she had finished as she gave them each a small bow as she sat.

"That was beautiful." commented Cathal, still clapping.

"Yeah, it was great." said Hiccup, "But what does it mean?"

"Now ah have ta translate fer ye?" Merida rolled her eyes, but she started once Hiccup shrugged his shoulders.

She gave a heavy sigh, "Little baby, hear my voice

I'm beside you, O maiden fair  
Our young Lady, grow and see  
Your land, your own faithful land  
Sun and moon, guide us  
To the hour of our glory and honor  
Little baby, our young Lady  
Noble maiden fair"

"Wow, so your mom sang that to you?"

"Ah suppose so. Ah mostly just heard it as she sang it everywhere. She sang ta get me ta sleep, around th' castle, when ah was scared. She probably sang it 'cause she wanted me ta grow up ta be a good queen or whatever."

"I'd imagine so." Hiccup smiled at her.

She chuckled at him, though they all shivered when the wind blew into their faces again. Groaning, she stood up and stretched her muscles. She felt too cold just sitting there, and it didn't seem like they were catching anything anyway. Then she looked over the wide ice, and a small grin couldn't help but creep onto her face.

Suddenly she started off in a run, and everyone looked up to see what on Earth she was doing, then she stopped moving her feet and she slid across the lake's smooth surface. She did this over and over, finding joy and thrill as her hair flowed behind her. Every time she gained more speed and her laughter increased.

"C'mon!" she called to Hiccup and Cathal, though Cathal just looked around, hiding his interest, and Hiccup pointed to his leg.

"Can't skate with this!"

She rolled her eyes then kept going. At least she could keep herself entertained. She tried spinning across the ice, sliding on her knees, doing anything to get her heart pumping faster. Her brothers wanted to join the excitement, but the queen grabbed each one of them.

"Oh, no you don't! It's too dangerous, Merida shouldn't even be doing that. Merida!" she called, "Merida, get away from the center of the lake, it's not safe!"

"Aw, mum! It's perfectly fi-"

_CRACK!_

Merida froze where she stood. She didn't dare look down, but she could tell from the looks of everyone else's faces her fears were true. Slowly, she tilted her head forward and looked down. Just below her feet was a clean, white cuts in the ice.

"Everyone off the ice!" Fergus shouted as he stumbled backward, though Merida held her breath as she kept still. They all ran to the edge of the lake where Merida was closest, shouting and calling out to her.

"Merida! Don't move!"

"Oh my Lords, is she goin' ta fall in?"

"It's goin' ta be alright, lass!"

"Merida, see if you can inch your way to the edge!"

She stood with her blue eyes staring at all of them. None of them had ever seen so much fear in her before. She decided to heed the last call and she lifted one foot to take a step. Gently, she put it down only a few inches farther than her other foot, but once she did another resounding _crack_ echoed through the tundra. She quickly replaced her foot to its original position. The cracks in the ice looked like spiderwebs, only these ones held a little more potential for death.

"Ah can't move!" she cried. Her breaths shortened and her body shook rapidly.

"Ah'll come ta get ye, Merida!" her father called. He just stepped onto the ice when someone pulled him back.

"Wait!" Hiccup had grabbed his coat, "All you'll do is add more weight. We need a plan."

"We NEED ta get mah daughter off th' ice!" Fergus pulled his coat away from him.

"Yes, but we need to do it in a way where she'll still be alive when we do!"

The king stopped in his steps, looking at his daughter. He turned back to Hiccup, seeing the determination and fear in his own eyes. Reluctantly, he got off the lake.

"Alright, lad. What would ye suggest we do?"

In a flash, Hiccup ran to their bag of supplies and took out a long string of rope.

"Okay," he said, "We need someone to tie themselves to this and take it out to Merida so IF the ice breaks, everyone else can just pull them out quickly."

"Alright, who's going out then?"

They all looked among themselves, but it was obvious who it should be. All their eyes were directed at Hiccup, who drew in a small breath when he met their eyes. True, he was the lightest of those who were able to get her, but even he had a fear of the danger. But then again, there wasn't much choice. Quickly, he tied one end of the rope to his waist, and everyone else minus the wives and Sorcha assembled themselves grabbing hold of the other end.

"Alright, Merida. I'm coming!" Hiccup called, and he sucked in a deep breath. Cautiously, he stepped out onto the ice and slid his boot across its smooth surface. His prosthetic tapped against the frozen water, and the sound of it scraping against it hurt everyone's ears, though not as much as the continuous cracking noise. Soon he was making his way to her.

"Hiccup," Merida said, watching the splinters spread, "Ah'm scared."

The viking was only halfway to her, but he held out his hand to reassure her.

"I know. But don't worry, don't look down. Just look at me." Her eyes slowly lifted to see his. Once she caught hold of his green eyes, she couldn't look away. "There, now. Y-you're gonna be...just fine."

"No ah'm not!" her eyes squinted a little as she fought hard to hold back tears.

As he made his way closer to her, the noise increased.

"Hey, would I ever lie to you?"

"Yes, ye've lied ta me before!"

He gave a weak chuckle, "Yeah, well not-not this time. I promise you, Merida. Everything will be alright." He was just an arms length away now. "You have to believe in me."

A warm tear fell, and Merida nodded, never leaving his gaze. For a moment it seemed like they were the only two people in the world.

"Good." Hiccup said, then he picked up the slack on his rope and slowly raised his arms to wrap it around her. She grabbed onto his shirt to steady them both as he kept wrapping it around her. Once he finished he looked out to the others and nodded. They all responded with nods and the two made their way back. At the first steps the cracking became deeper and Merida tightened her grip on Hiccup, though as they got closer and closer to the shore the sounds died away, but Merida still didn't relax. Soon, everyone was breathing almost normally as they were almost there, but-

_CRASH!_

The ice gave way under Hiccup and Merida, though they were lucky enough to be in the middle of a large piece of ice. Unfortunately it couldn't hold their weight and the water was soon rushing at their feet. Merida screamed at it began to seep at her leather boots, and Hiccup realized there was only one thing left to do.

"Merida, we have to get off!"

But the princess' knees shook at the sight of the water, and she only grabbed at Hiccup's shirt more. Hiccup looked to the rest of them, but there wasn't much else they could do. If they pulled the rope, it would only drag them into the water.

With a determined look suddenly overcoming him, he scooped up the redhead in his arms and with great effort leaped as far as he could. Thankfully, all the others knew what to do and they pulled the rope as hard as they could while they were still in the air to get them as close to the edge before they crashed onto the ice. Hiccup scrambled up and dragged Merida onto the snow before collapsing next to her.

All his adrenaline was gone, and Merida was safe. That's all that mattered.

* * *

*Scottish name meaning "horse lord"

**Scottish name meaning "proud; noble"

***Scottish name meaning "brightness; light"

****Scottish name meaning "strength"

°Scottish name meaning "small cat"

°°Scottish name meaning "son of prosperity"

°°°Scottish name meaning "sea-bright"


	12. Chapter 12

**Gifts and Confusion**

There it was again. Another flash of Toothless ran through Hiccup's mind and the black dragon just circled around the boy, spinning faster and faster. His wings were spread far so one just barely grazed Hiccup's arms as it moved. Hiccup didn't bother looking around. He didn't want to see everything that was lost to him. Gradually, Toothless slowed down and finally stopped flying to stand in front of him. Hiccup closed his eyes, not wanting to look at his friend. The dragon growled at him, but he didn't flinch at the sudden hostility. The growl was low and harsh as it rumbled through the empty space that enveloped Hiccup. Unexpectedly, a voice emerged from the growl, but it was just as heavy.

"Look at me..." it said.

Though Hiccup continued to look into the darkness behind his eyelids. The growling became louder.

"Have you already forgotten my face?"

Hiccup shook his head slowly.

"Do you still care for me?"

He nodded this time, but a small tear leaked past his cheek and chin and onto the ground.

"Then look at me."

Hiccup still didn't look up, and he could hear the sound of a dragon flapping its wings. Giving up, he opened his eyes, but Toothless was gone.

Everything was gone. Hiccup now lay staring at a ceiling, a heavy weight pushing down on his entire body with the cold night nipping at his tear-stained cheeks. He just laid there at the thoughts and images from his dream slowly melted away, till all he could remember was a blur, and a voice. He sighed, as he tried to think on where he was...and why it was so hot. Groaning, he tried to sit up, but he only made it a few inches above the mattress before falling back down. Looking down, he saw a massive amount of sheets and blankets wrapped around him tightly. He gave another sigh before he began pushing and kicking the many layers off. He slightly regretted it when a sudden burst of cold air hit his body. Grabbing the top blanket, he wrapped it around himself, then set his foot on the floor to get out of the room. He had no idea why since he remembered where he was now. He was in the house of MacGuffin, Cathal's room to be exact.

With great effort, he pushed himself up only to fall over. He grabbed the bed post closest to him to steady himself, then he looked around for his prosthetic. Cursing under his breath, he grabbed his half-wooden, half-metal leg and sat down on the bed to attach it to his stump. After it was secure, he got up again and made his way to the door.

"Where are ye goin'?" a voice said slowly behind him.

Turning, Hiccup saw Cathal at the end of the room, sitting up on the cot Hiccup had slept on nights before.

Hiccup ran through his head trying to come up with some sort of excuse, "How's Merida doing?"

"Alright, surprisingly."

"Surprisingly?" Hiccup cocked his head as he made his way back to the bed.

Cathal shrugged his shoulders. "Ah've never seen her so scared before than when she was on th' ice. Ah thought she'd be a bit shaken when she woke up, but a couple hours ago she came in ta check on ye, but practically skipped away when she heard ye were doin' fine."

Hiccup raised an eyebrow to Cathal, but the Lord's son just shrugged his shoulders again, showing he knew nothing. They sat there in silence for a few moments as Hiccup thought of possible motives for Merida's actions. Cathal just sat there, looking at Hiccup with curiosity.

"What's 'toothless?'" he said suddenly.

Hiccup almost jumped when he heard the name out loud. "What?"

"'Toothless.' You kept mumbling it over and over in your sleep."

"Oh. It's...nothing." he looked down.

"Is it a name?"

Hiccup nodded his head, still looking at and tracing the patterns on the quilt he was now sitting on. "It was the name of a friend back home."

"You Icelanders have strange names."

Hiccup gave him a quizzical look, then remembered that he and Merida had to lie to him about where he was from. "Oh! Yeah. Well, it's not like we can choose them or anything. Our parents choose them for us."

"True."

Yet another awkward silence overcame them and the two of them just sat there looking around at the room. Curiosity overcame the viking as he picked up a small canvas lying on the floor next to the bed and stared at it.

"Did you paint this?" he said, looking deep into the picture. It was hard to see it in the dark, but he could make out a portrait of someone. It was a girl, but she wasn't finished.

"Oh!" Cathal hadn't realized what Hiccup was looking at, and he quickly ran over and yanked the canvas out of his hands. "This isn't finished yet!"

"Well, are there any that are?" Hiccup had now become interested in this newly found talent.

Cathal blushed, then nodded his head, but didn't move. It wasn't until Hiccup had raised an eyebrow, expecting to see some of his work that he put down the painting he was holding and picked up another one from across the room. Once it was in his hands, Hiccup turned his hands and the painting to get the best look at it from the small light that came from the moon out of the window. It was a picture of another girl, though he could see she had jet black hair while wearing a dark dress, but she had very light skin and bright, red lips.

"Wow, it's beautiful." said Hiccup, still scanning the painting. "Who is she?"

Cathal shrugged his shoulders. "Just someone who passed by mah window."

Hiccup picked up another one. This time it was a large man who seemed to be having trouble keeping hair on his head, but not on his chin. He kept looking through more and more, seeing faces fly past his eyes. Some were old, some were young. Some had red hair, others blonde.

"How can you get so many people to pose for you?"

"Ah don't."

Hiccup looked up from the gallery and cocked his head.

Cathal sighed, "Sometimes people pass by me, and ah just feel a sudden desire ta paint. Ah try ta memorize their face an' come back here ta put it on a canvas."

"Wow. So you can look at anyone and just paint them?"

He blushed again. "W-well...ah guess."

"That's amazing. You really have a gift."

"Thanks..." Quickly, Cathal gathered up the canvases and set them aside in a corner.

"So how many people have you done?"

"Ah don't know. A lot. Mostly everyone from our town, couple from DunBroch from a while ago, a few Macintoshes, but ah think ah've only done one from Dingwall."

"Have you done anything else? Like animals or plants?"

His face scrunched up, "Actually, no. Mostly just people."

"Really? How come?"

He shrugged his shoulders before sitting back down on the cot. "Ah just prefer paintin' people."

Hiccup shrugged as well, showing he understood, then laid back down on the bed as Cathal curled up in a blanket. They just laid there for a few minutes in silence, Hiccup's eyelids slowly growing heavier and heavier as the weight of the night pulled him into sleep, but he jolted when Cathal's voice pulled him back.

"Hiccup?"

He sighed. "Yeah?"

"Do ye like Merida?"

Hiccup sat up straight and just stared at Cathal, a puzzled look frozen on his face. "Why do you ask?"

He shrugged his large shoulders, the blanket moving as he did. "'Toothless' wasn't th' only thing ye were mumblin' in yer sleep."

Hiccup didn't answer his question. He fell back onto his pillow, his eyes wide. To be honest, he didn't really know the answer himself. Sure, he liked her, but she was just a friend, plus he was in love with Astrid...but Astrid was gone with Berk...but could he really betray her? He grabbed his hair in frustration.

There was no falling asleep after this.

**Fears**

What are dreams? Are they reels of images of a subconscious thought? Are they visions of the past or future? What is their purpose? Merida didn't know, and frankly, she didn't care. All she knew was they haunted her. On one particular night, she tossed and turned as images and sounds roared through her brain.

She was lying on the ground, her eyes looking up to the sky which moved faster than she could process, turning from day to night and back again. Her hair was sprawled on the ground as much as she was, a gentle weight pushing her down. Above her she could see something flying about above her head, but she couldn't make out what it was. It looked like a large bird, just going past the sky every now and then. She reached out to it, but it was gone. Then she could hear the ocean waves as they licked her heels, and the weight on her got heavier and heavier to the point where she couldn't even move. The salt water continued to lap around her legs before it reached her torso and neck, then completely enveloped her. But it didn't feel like she was in the ocean. It was hot...like fire...Fire and pressure that curled her into a ball before encompassing her in a cage of steel. She wanted to break away, get free from it, but it was unbreakable. Suddenly, she saw her mother's face in front of her, then it changed to the Demon Bear Mor'du. Screaming, she let out a breath only to gasp reality back into her life.

Her heart was thumping fast, though her blue eyes opened slowly as she woke up. Though she was given a rather rude awakening when she saw six eyes peering at her over her face. She took in a gasp as Hamish, Hubert and Harris leaped off her cot, laughing.

"Get back her ye wee devils!" she called after them, jumping up and chasing them out of the room.

The King and Queen must have been up for a while since neither of them were in sight as the princess chased her brothers through the hallways. Occasionally they ran into a maid or servant as they went at a high speed, but somehow Merida managed to keep up with her mischievous brothers since they didn't know the house of MacGuffin that well.

Then out of nowhere, Hiccup and Cathal came around a corner and collided with the triplets.

"Boys!" Merida scolded through her huffs and puffs, "Get up an' apologize!"

They all mumbled some inaudible words as they scrambled on the floor, trying to get up.

"Good. Now go an' find mum. Ah'm done playin' fer now."

They ran off opposite the direction they came, giggling and whispering about their next scheme. Catching her breath, she pulled Hiccup and Cathal off the floor by their arms.

"Sorry 'bout that, laddies. Mah family can get a bit out of hand sometimes."

They nodded in forgiveness, as they dusted off their clothes.

"Well, see ye boys later!" she chirped, and skipped off to get some breakfast.

Both Hiccup and Cathal watched as she went down the hallway, her red curls bouncing up and down with each step.

"You were right." Hiccup said, turning toward Cathal after she was out of sight. "She is acting quite strange."

"Aye, it's like she's tryin' ta pretend nothin' happened."

They shrugged at each other then decided that would be a good time to continue with their previous conversation.

"So, let me get this straight," started Hiccup as they began walking again. "You like painting, your sister likes sculpting, your mother likes drawing, your brother and dad likes lifting weights-"

"Brian likes lifting, but mah dad just likes fightin'."

"Right, and your other brother likes running...his legs and his mouth."

The both chuckled.

Hiccup continued, "Sounds like half of you are the physical type, and the other half is artistic."

"Aye. Probably get th' artistic part from mah mum's side."

"Oh, no. It is most DEFINITELY from your dad's side." he exclaimed sarcastically.

The boys continued laughing till they reached their destination: the dining room.

Mostly everyone was already done with eating their breakfast, though Merida and her brothers and her mother still remained. Elinor was yet again trying to teach Merida the delicacy of table manners, though this was another hard subject for the princess. Though it was nothing like sewing, Merida's eating habits had never changed since she was little, and it was hard to change them now. The princes had just finished stuffing their mouths and grabbed a few breakfast rolls before scampering off through the door behind Hiccup and Cathal.

"No, dear. Cradle the spoon in your hand and balance it between your fingers."

Merida's hand cramped up from too much concentration, then watched as her porridge slipped back into her bowl. Grumbling in frustration, she let the spoon drop and placed her head on the table next to her bowl.

"Sit up, Merida. You're getting your food in your hair. Come now. Try again." The Queen waited for her daughter's head to rise before demonstrating once again and sipping her breakfast as gracefully as possible.

Sighing, the princess grabbed her utensil and tried moving as her mother did.

"Good. Now relax. Remember to always keep your back straight."

Merida grimaced through the continuous reminders and instructions as Hiccup and Cathal ladled themselves some breakfast. They talked about the people and events held in the land of MacGuffin as Merida continued her lesson, though Hiccup couldn't help but catch his eyes drifting toward the red hair in the corner of his eye. It didn't help that she began enveloping herself in Hiccup and Cathal's conversation after the Queen had given up, finished her meal and excused herself from the room.

"...and as ye probably couldn't tell from th' spread here, we're very proud of our breads."

"I can see why." Hiccup said, picking up another roll and using it to dip in his porridge.

Cathal continued talking, being sure to enunciate every word as they finished up their breakfast, Merida still trying to figure out her spoon.

"So did your dad have anything planned for the families today?" Hiccup inquired after his partner was finished talking.

"Oh, well mah dad had decided ta let everyone have th' day off. Especially after..." his eyes switched between Hiccup and Merida.

Hiccup also looked at Merida, remembering the previous day's unfortunate event. Though Merida just raised her eyebrows as if she had no idea.

"After what?" she said, looking at the both of them.

Cathal's face sank a bit as if he was afraid of her reaction. "Well...after yesterday when you...with th' ice an' all..."

Merida gave a small chuckle. "Yer dad shouldn't worry 'bout that. Ah'm perfectly fine."

"Are you sure?" said Hiccup, looking at her with a worried look, "You seemed pretty scared when-"

"Ah wasn't scared!"

Both the boys jumped at this sudden reaction, even though Cathal had braced himself for it.

"B-but you said-"

"That was just a reaction!"

Before any of them could collect themselves, Merida stood up and stormed out of the room, her stomps rattling her bowl, still filled with her breakfast. Hiccup wanted to call out to her, stop her to see what was wrong, but his words were caught in his mouth and he just stared with his mouth open. He looked to Cathal for help, but he just shrugged.

"Ah guess she may not be as alright as we thought." Then he stood and left Hiccup alone in the room.

The viking just sat there for a moment, not believing what had just happened, then took Cathal's absence as an invitation to go talk to Merida. Grabbing a couple more breakfast rolls, he went off to find where she went.

It didn't take long to find her. She was hiding out in her room, curled up on her cot where she pretended to be asleep.

"Merida?" Hiccup called to her, finding her door wide open. "Can I come in?"

She didn't respond, so after a few minutes, she just walked in and sat on the edge of her cot. He couldn't see her face which was covered with her hair, though he could see her face was red and her body trembled, shaking the cot.

"Here," he said, handing her the rolls he grabbed, "I noticed you didn't eat much as breakfast."

"Not hungry..." she replied, though her voice shook and cracked.

Shrugging, he placed them on a small chest near the cot. Then he waited a few more minutes before speaking again.

"Do you want to talk?"

She shook her head, her curls covering her face even more.

"Merida..." he was about to inquire about the lake incident, but at that moment, Merida sat up, and Hiccup could see her cheeks were tear-stained and her freckled her hidden behind the deep red of her cheeks.

"Why was ah so scared?"

Hiccup's eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

"Ah've looked Mor'du, th' Demon Bear, in th' eyes an' ah wasn't nearly as frightened as ah was on th' water. Ah've climed the Crone's Tooth with no support or help an' mah body didn't go limp when ah nearly fell like ah did when th' ice broke."

Hiccup stared at her, dumbfounded. Her eyes weren't sad as her tears suggested, but more angry. Hiccup could only guess she was angry with herself. He didn't know what to do or say as he stared into his eyes as if the answer she was looking for was there.

"...What's the Crone's Tooth?..." he finally pushed out of his mouth.

Merida groaned and laid back down on the cot. She had forgotten she hadn't told him about it.

"It's a large rock next to a waterfall that's at least a hundred feet high. It is known as th' gateway to th' Fire Falls." she mumbled.

Hiccup was about to ask what in Odin's name the Fire Falls were, but he kept his mouth shut as she already seemed distressed enough for having to explain something to him, so he just nodded slowly. He then turned to her previous explosion and tried coming to a quick conclusion.

"Well, maybe you were so scared because...you were all alone on the ice?"

She sat up again, pushing her curls away, "But everyone was there, an' ah was alone when ah was clawin' on a giant pillar of rocks. Except Angus was with me."

It took a moment for Hiccup to realize this was the Crone's Tooth again, and he set his mind to thinking again.

"Maybe...it was because you were defenseless..."

She looked up into his eyes again, a bit at a loss of words to argue.

Hiccup continued, trying to explain his point. "I assume you had some sort of weapon when facing Mor'du so you could fight against him, and when one climbs a rock surface they have the ability to ascend or descend up and down where they want to go. Sure, there's the possibility of getting killed or falling, but when you stood on the ice, it seemed like there was nothing you could do. You had to wait for someone to come save you else the possibility of death was a certainty."

After he finished, they remained in silence, Hiccup waiting for a reaction while Merida continued to stare at him with her round eyes. She ran over everything in her mind, the ice and Hiccup's reasoning colliding with one another. She wasn't trembling anymore, and her tears had dried against her skin.

Sighing, she grabbed two of the rolls from the chest that Hiccup had put down only before throwing one of them at his face. It bounced off his cheek before landing on the floor.

"Hey! What was that for?" he exclaimed.

"It's not fair."

"What?"

"It's not fair how ye can fix everythin' ye see!"

"Wha-? I don't-"

"Aye ye do! Any sort of problem ah have, ye can always clam me down an' fix it. Ye helped mah mum an' I talk ta each other again, ye saved me from th' ice, an' just now ye helped me understand myself. An' it's not fair 'cause ah haven't helped ye at all. Ah can't even understand ye sometimes."

"Are you kidding me? You've been helping me try to find the other clan that might have killed my mom."

"But we haven't even found one clue."

"True, but you still thought of it, and if it weren't for you, I'd probably be at the bottom of the ocean right now, waiting for some shark to eat my remains."

"But yer so good at everythin'!" she huffed, stuffing the other roll in her mouth. She actually was rather hungry. "Ah wish ah could be like ye." she said after swallowing.

"What? Why on earth would you want to be like me? You're brave, smart, sweet-"

"Selfish."

"ENERGETIC, a great archer, and you're...well beautiful." He rubbed the back of his neck, fighting to keep the blood from rushing to his face.

Merida rolled her eyes. "An' what is that ta bein' a kind-hearted, inventive, dragon-ridin', string bean of a viking?"

"A lot more than you think...especially the string bean part..."

"Oy, muscles aren't the only things of worth in this world." she smiled at him, finishing the rest of her roll.

"Hey, I thought I came in here to cheer YOU up."

"Ah'm not as much of a damsel in distress as ye think ah am."

"But you're more of a damsel in distress than you pretend to be."

"Watch it, toothpick."

"First I'm a string bean, now I'm a toothpick?"

"Aye, an' ye'll always be a Hiccup." she picked up the other roll from the floor and threw it at him again, this time bopping him on the nose.

He rubbed where the roll hit him, then watched as she stood up and walked to the door.

"Thanks fer comin' ta talk ta me, Hiccup." she said, stopping in the doorway. "An' if there's anythin' ah can do ta get ye home, just ask."

"Well, unless you can find a place that's twelve days North of hopeless, and a few degrees South of freezing to death, I'm not sure there's much anyone can do."

She chortled, "Why would ye vikings live in such a place?"

"Well, we have stubbornness issues."

"Ye got that right."

He rolled his eyes, then grabbed the last roll off the chest and threw it at her before standing up. Unlike Hiccup, however, she caught it and threw it right back at a higher speed, hitting him in the arm as he tried protecting himself. Laughing, they left the room, only to stop in front of a large figure with a ghost-like expression planted on their face.

"What was that about vikings?"


	13. Chapter 13

**Panic**

Hiccup felt sick to his stomach as he looked into Cathal MacGuffin's face. What should he do? Pretend it was a joke? That Merida just calls him a viking sometimes to make fun of him? Would he believe him? Physically, all he did was stand there with his eyes wide open, mouth slightly agape.

Merida, on the other hand, was internally screaming at herself for being so careless. Hiccup had entrusted his secret to her, and she felt like she had taken a dagger and stabbed him in the back. She too was trying to find a loophole, a story to quickly tell Cathal, not knowing how he'd react.

All three figures remained motionless, the heavy silence choking all of them. Merida tried pushing a few words out of her mouth, but all that came out was inaudible sounds that stuttered through the air. The tension continued to rise with each second that ticked by, making Hiccup want to throw up his breakfast more and more. Unfortunately for them, their sudden silence made him all the more suspicious.

The eerie spell was broken by the very one who insinuated it as Cathal opened his mouth to speak again.

"What was that about vikings?" he repeated as if they didn't hear him.

"Nothin'!" Merida said quickly, snapping herself into focus. "Just a little somethin' between Hiccup an' I."

Cathal switched his attention to Hiccup, his eyes darting at him as if demanding a verification.

Hiccup's mouth snapped shut, his teeth clicking against each other from the force. But Cathal's stare clashed against his usual calm profile.

"Y-yes." he stuttered. "A j-joke we came up with after she found me."

"Aye, ah though he was a viking so that's what ah called him fer a while." Cut in Merida quickly. Though she spoke so fast it would have been hard for Catan to keep up.

Cathal nodded slowly, but other than that he didn't move. He gave no reaction, making both Hiccup and Merida very nervous. Though it was nothing compared to what he said next.

"Oh, well if that's all, then sorry for being in your way. I was just on my way to find Brian, have you seen him?" His entire posture and attitude changed, his suspicious and studying demeanor now a smiling, cheerful attitude.

Merida narrowed her eyes, not believing what was going into her ears. Just as slowly as he nodded his head, she shook hers.

"N-no, ah haven't seen him."

"That's alright. Well, have a good one." and he left the two of them down the hall, his large feet echoing off the walls.

Hiccup's mouth opened again, one of his eyes twitching as he continued to stare at the spot where Cathal was previously standing. Once again, they stood in silence, only this time their faces struck with confusion instead of horror.

Eventually, Merida turned to Hiccup, snapping him out of his trance. "What just happened?"

Hiccup blinked a few times before speaking, "I...have no idea." he looked back through the hall to where Cathal had disappeared.

After a moment, he gestured to Merida, and soon they were walking down the hallway opposite of the Lord's son, still unsure of what happened.

**Dinner Time**

The second dinner Hiccup had with the MacGuffins was very different than the first. Hiccup was thankful Brian and Catan had once again sandwiched him in their conversations, however Merida wasn't as lucky. Cathal had seated himself next to her, though he appeared to be ignoring her and Hiccup throughout the entire dinner conversation. It didn't help that the Queen who was seated on her other side felt her daughter was being rude for not speaking to him. As they ate, she continuously gestured and stared at her daughter, trying to get her to open her mouth. But every time the princess turned to the boy sitting next to her, he took the opportunity to stuff his face with roast mutton.

For everyone else, the meal went on as usual, the patriarch bellowing their conversation and laughs across the room while the others talked and ate. But neither Hiccup nor Merida had any appetite that evening.

"Merida, are ye alright, lass?" said Lady MacGuffin, noticing the princess' still full plate.

"Aye. Uh, no. Ah'm just not feelin' well. May ah be excused?" she said as she gave a slight glance toward Cathal who took the opportunity to turn and speak to his sister.

"Of course. Elinor?" Muireall looked to the Queen for a confirmation, who nodded.

Merida scooted her seat backwards, then stood up to leave. But just before she left the room, she managed to catch Hiccup's eye and nod her head to him. At first, he had no idea what she wanted, but it became clear in his mind and as soon as she was out of sight, he too excused himself.

Closing the oak door to the sounds of laughter and words behind him, Hiccup found Merida standing in the hallway waiting for him.

"He knows." she said as soon as she heard the door latch into the wall.

Hiccup shrugged. "Maybe he doesn't. He hasn't said anything yet."

"Aye, he hasn't said anythin'. He hasn't said a word ta either of us all afternoon!"

"Well, maybe he's just waiting for some...evidence or something."

"Aye, that may be true. That means we'll have ta be extra careful now."

"Yeah, just until we get back to your home at least."

"Sorry by th' way."

"For what?"

"Ah let th' word 'viking' slip. It's mah fault we're in this mess."

"Don't worry about it. If it wasn't you, it'd be me."

"Let's just hope our cover-up was good enough fer now."

"It wasn't." said a voice through the hall.

Both Hiccup and Merida turned to see a figure lurking in the shadows, hidden away from the torch light. Knowing they now knew where he was, Cathal stepped out into the light. Both the viking and the princess cursed under their breaths to their respective beliefs. Cathal gave them a blank stare, making so they couldn't read his hidden expression.

"Ah knew somethin' was wrong when ah said th' word 'viking' in front of ye and ye both froze." Cathal continued walking toward them as he spoke. "Though ah never guessed ye actually were one, Hiccup." he stopped in front of the brunette, "Are ye a viking?"

Hiccup gulped under the intimidating stare. Cathal was so close to him he could smell his breath. He sighed, there was no point hiding it now.

"Yes."

Hiccup braced himself for the reaction, though he had no idea how Cathal would respond. He didn't seem as headstrong as Merida, so maybe he wouldn't attack him like she did. But then again, Merida did mention that vikings had attacked their clans before. Hiccup closed his eyes shut, just getting one more glimpse of how much bigger Cathal was than him. He heard something move in front of him, making his nerves tense up, but instead of feeling a punch on his cheek, he got a mouthful of curly, red hair.

"But it's alright!" cried Merida, "he's a good viking!"

She had squeezed herself into the tiny space between Hiccup and Cathal, protecting the viking with her body.

"Oh, ah don't doubt it." said Cathal, taking a step back. "Though ah'll admit, ye don't look much like a viking."

"Yeah, I know." said Hiccup, spitting out some of Merida's hair in the process.

"So...yer alright with this?...With Hiccup being a viking?" said Merida slowly, grabbing Hiccup's sleeve behind her to make sure he couldn't get hurt.

"Sure, why wouldn't ah be?" Cathal shrugged his shoulders.

"Ye know as well as I that vikings attacked our lands."

"But ye seem to trust him. An' Hiccup's a friend, ah doubt he would be able ta invade Scotland with that kind of body anyway. No offense."

"None taken." called Hiccup from behind the fiery mass of hair.

Merida narrowed her eyes. She couldn't be sure if he was sincere, but she finally let in when he gave no sign of hostility and stepped away.

"Well, how did ye get out here anyway? We've been standin' in front of th' door th' whole time." she crossed her arms, glaring at Young MacGuffin.

"Yer brothers found a small passageway from th' kitchen ta th' hallway yesterday. I went through it as soon as ye both were out of th' room."

Merida rolled her eyes. "Th' wee devils." It sounded like the kind of mischief her brothers would get into.

Both Hiccup and Cathal laughed at her, but it only made her roll her eyes again.

"Oh, by the way." said Hiccup after he had his fill of laughter. "You wouldn't mind keeping this a secret, right?" he turned to Cathal.

"Aye. Ah'm not quite as loud a mouth as Catan."

This time all of them were laughing.

**Of Tours and Dragons**

_ACHOO!_

Hiccup sniffed in an icy breath of air, clearing his nose. Lord MacGuffin still felt bad about the ice fishing incident, so he thought their time would be better spent exploring the village surrounding the MacGuffins' home. It wasn't as large as the village in DunBroch, but it still held the same cheery, inviting attitude. Not many people were outside due to the frosty weather, but small markets were set up selling blankets, boots, and of course, bread. Occasionally they would see a few children running around playing with snow and dogs.

Since Cathal had officially learned Hiccup's secret the night before, he felt more relaxed around him and the two of them, along with Merida, journeyed through the streets of MacGuffin as Cathal showed them the sites. He wasn't as talkative as Hiccup and Merida, but his company was still enjoyed just as much.

"Bless you." said Merida as Hiccup wiped his nose. Today she wore a dark green dress similar to her favorite blue adventure dress, but this one was lined with silver ribbons and embroidery. Normally she wouldn't wear something so flashy, but it was one of the few remaining dresses she had packed. As they walked through the village, she constantly pulled her cloak around her as to not attract attention, but who wouldn't notice a red-haired girl with two boys, one twice her size the other walking on a metal device of a leg?

The three of them left behind the others soon after they left stepped out of the warm house, taking to their own adventures.

"So do ye have a smithy around here? Hiccup's quite the metalworker." said Merida after they had just finished meeting a family close to the MacGuffins.

"Are ye really?" Cathal looked over at Hiccup, examining his stature again.

"Aye, he made his own prosthetic." Merida pointed to the squeaking metal below Hiccup's left leg.

"Oh, well our smithy is down th' street." he pointed in the direction they were walking toward a small shack-looking building with a large chimney and large amounts of smoke billowing out of the top of it.

As soon as they got inside, Hiccup felt right at home. Unlike Ailean's smithy, this one was smaller and was a lot more crowded with swords, spears, axes, cabers, etc. All the tools and supplies were arranged almost exactly like Gobber's smithy (now dragon dental shop), it even had the same sort of window where the vikings of Berk would throw their broken weapons for Gobber and Hiccup to repair. The boy was so absorbed in everything, he didn't notice his eyes watering.

"Hiccup, are ye alright?"

He blinked away the tears, seeing Merida looking into his face. "Yeah...smoke got in my eyes."

"Did ye need somethin'?" called a voice, startling all of them. It was then they noticed the large, bulky man hammering away on an axe handle. He was larger than Ailean, and his blonde, curly hair poked out from under his metal helmet that came down to covered one of his eyes. He wore a dark grey shirt, that Hiccup guessed was once brown, and a traditional, green MacGuffin clan kilt supported by a brown, leather belt.

"Hello!" chirped Merida.

"Garbhan*, this is Princess Merida of DunBroch, and Hiccup." announced Cathal.

"Oh, just some friends of yers, huh? Well, sorry but ah have a lot o' work ta do an' ah haven't got any time fer ye lot. So if ye don't mind..." brushing past them, he opened the door, expecting them to leave.

Merida felt insulted by this cold welcome, but just as she was about to open her mouth in protest, Cathal pushed both her and Hiccup out the door and back into the cold. As soon as they were forced back outside, the door shut behind them and soon after, the familiar hammering noise continued in its normal rhythm.

"How rude!" exclaimed Merida, turning back toward the door.

"Sorry..." said Cathal, "Ah guess he's just in one of his moods."

"I'll say. He's just about as grouchy as a dragon that missed breakfast." Hiccup added.

Cathal gave a small chuckle. "You vikings have many dragon stories?"

"Well, yes. In fact we train them. Used to fight, but now train."

Cathal started laughing, but stopped once he noticed neither of the other two were. "Oh, ye were serious?"

"Yeah, they're quite common in my village."

"Aye." said Merida, "Ah've never seen one, but ah hope to someday."

Cathal raised his eyebrows a bit. Sure, it was one thing to know that a new friend was actually the child of an enemy, but...dragons? That was a bit harder to believe. Then again, it was hard to believe that a bear was actually the Queen transformed. He shrugged his shoulders and they continued walking, but he couldn't stop thinking about the dragons.

_Are they really real? If they are, how come none of them are here?_Thoughts and questions raced through his mind, and they lasted all through the rest of the day.

**A couple hours later**

"So what do we do now?" said Merida as she chomped on a small biscuit. The trio had made their last stop at a bakery for lunch, but now they had the entire rest of the day to get into all kinds of mischief.

"We could always go back to Cathal's house." Hiccup rubbed his hands, sad that they had to leave yet another warm shelter.

Merida huffed. "But we spent th' entire day inside yesterday. We all could use th' fresh air."

"Well, what would you suggest?"

Merida looked around. Sure the plains were peaceful, but they were empty...and boring. There were no woods for at least a couple miles, and the river was frozen. The only thing that caught Merida's eye was the large, white mountain that stood upriver.

"What about the mountain?"

Both Cathal and Hiccup gave disbelieving looks, turning their eyes from Merida to the distant mountain whose cold winds now brushed against their freezing skin.

"How about we not?" said Hiccup.

"Aye, it's far too deep into winter, an' even if we could go, we wouldn't even make it a quarter of th' way up before dark."

Merida gave another huff, finishing off her biscuit. "Well, is there ANY other place we could go?"

"Well, there is one." said Cathal, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's not too far, an' it'll give us a break from the cold."

"Hey, ah already said we should stay away from th' indoors." Merida protested.

"Who ever said it was inside?" Cathal gave them both a smile, then started off down the road, a bewildered Merida and Hiccup only following him after exchanging looks of confusion. How could something outside be warm in this weather?

As they ventured across the snowy plains, they exchanged stories, laughing and crying together as they listened to Hiccup telling of the adventure of the Red Death, and sharing some old Norse tales as well while Cathal and Merida told Gaelic fables and legends, including the one of their parents' alliance.

"Wow, at least something good came from a viking attack. Got your parents to stop bickering against one another." Hiccup commented after they finished.

"Ah guess that's one way to think of it." Merida kicked a lone rock in their path.

"Oh, we're almost there." Cathal pointed out into the lonely distance.

They had walked toward the same mountain Merida had suggested earlier, the landscape getting more and more jagged and rocky. Both Hiccup and Merida looked to where he pointed, but all they could see was a large mass of rocks surrounded by a few dead plants.

"Aaaand we are looking for...what exactly?" remarked Hiccup.

"C'mon." Cathal gestured for them to follow, and they did for a while, but only until Cathal began crawling into a small opening in the rocks. Not long after, Cathal disappeared under the snowy surface.

Excited, Merida dashed off to follow his down the hole. Though Hiccup was a bit more uncomfortable about descending into a dark hole. He crept closer to where his companions disappeared, peering over the gap in the rocks. All of a sudden, her felt a wave of heat blow onto his face, making him step back a bit. Now a bit excited himself, he climbed down, bits of snow falling with him as he tried to get his prosthetic unstuck after getting it wedged between two rocks. Eventually, he finally made it all the way down, though he was a bit surprised to find a great amount of heat and light surrounding him.

It seemed like Hiccup stepped into a dream. Cathal brought him and Merida to a hidden spring, domestic plants growing all around giving a sweet aroma to the room as a waft of steam grew heavy on Hiccup's hair. If he could describe everything in the room with one word, it'd be "beautiful." Hiccup could see the light was created from strange-looking blue crystals that glowed.

"What is this place?" he asked, still looking around.

"One of th' hidden jewels of th' mountain." Cathal said, smiling.

"This is amazin'!" Merida shouted, her voice echoing off the walls. With a burst of energy, she pulled off her cloak and boots and plunged her feet into the water. "It's so warm!"

"Th' mountain is actually a volcano. Ah suppose it gets heated from that." Cathal said, sitting down on a large rock.

She laughed as she kept running through the water, her silver trimmings glistening against the light. Hiccup sat next to Cathal, pulling off his own cloak as the heat flowed through his body.

"So how did you ever find this place?" Hiccup asked.

"Everyone here knows about them. Though they usually come in th' fall when it starts ta get cold, but not too cold where they wouldn't want ta travel this far."

"Oy!" Merida called, "Why don't ye laddies come in?"

Both the boys shook their heads violently, not wanting to get wet. But it only provoked Merida, and she kicked a wave of water over them.

"Hey!" yelled Hiccup, "We have to go back outside eventually ya know!" he tried wiping the water off his clothes, but Merida just splashed them again.

Hiccup had enough. After trying to shield himself with his arms, he leaped up and tried kicking water over Merida, unfortunately his balance was thrown off by his metal foot, and he stumbled over backwards, landing in a patch of grass.

Merida laughed at him hysterically, nearly falling over herself into the water. Hiccup looked over to find Cathal laughing at him as well, making Hiccup's face grow red from embarrassment. Merida was still giggling when she offered a hand to him, though her laughter stopped completely when instead of pulling himself up, Hiccup pulled Merida to the ground, and she landed next to him, half of her dress getting wet in the process.

"Hey!" she yelled at him, then tried shoving him into the water, but he was too quick. He scrambled up and jumped behind Cathal who spun around, not wanting to be involved. Merida picked up her cloak and threw it at the both of them, though it didn't get far and it landed at Cathal's feet. The other two began laughing at her, making her face turn as red as Hiccup's did. Huffy as ever, she sat back down on the ground.

"If ah had mah bow, ah'd skewer th' both of ye." she gave them a sour look, but they didn't stop laughing.

Eventually they went to sit next to her with apologetic looks in their eyes. After a bit of persuasion, they convinced Merida to not go back into the water to let their clothes dry, but they all agreed just letting their feet rest in the spring would be alright. Five bare feet swished through the water, and soon they completely forgot about the cold weather they had yet to return to. Hiccup decided it would be best to not get his prosthetic any more wet than it already was, so he took it off, exposing his stump under his knee.

"This was fun." said Merida, leaning back. "Ye picked a great place ta relax, Cathal."

"Though we'll have to go back soon." Hiccup kicked up his leg, letting the cooler air penetrate his nerves before relaxing after he put it back in the water. "We don't want to be traveling in the dark."

Merida groaned, putting her pout face back on. "Can't we just stay here forever?" there was a hint of sarcasm as she spoke.

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Sure. We can become cave-people and live underground forever." His tone was definitely sarcastic.

The princess chuckled. Though she truly meant what she said. Here, she felt at peace, but there was still that sense of freedom in the air. Sure, she didn't have her weapons and there wasn't enough space to go riding, but here she could still be herself.

**News From Home**

Elinor brought the lovely china to her lips as she sipped the warm liquid. She could feel it run down her throat and into her stomach, the winter chills now gone from her body. Sighing in satisfaction, she allowed herself to lean back into her chair that was so comfortably sitting by a fireplace in the MacGuffins' home. Though it was only a little into the evening, the Queen set aside this time to relax. The party she was in that consisted of Lady MacGuffin, the triplets and Sorcha, had their tour of the village cut short once the brothers ran havoc through the butcher's shop. As punishment, they were sent to bed early with no supper, though there's no telling if they actually went to bed or not.

The Queen let her eyes close for a bit, the sweet delicacy of silence enveloping her. All that could be heard was the whistling of the wind outside, and the crackling of the fire. For a moment, everything was just peaceful.

And then that moment ended.

Suddenly, Fergus and Macrath burst into the room, laughing a bellowing. Elinor put down her cup on a table next to her, sighing. Putting back on her superior figure, she sat up to the edge of her chair and waited for the two men to either sit down in their own seats or leave the room. But they just stood in the middle of the room, shouting and miming their events of the day. Apparently after they took a quick tour, the two of them went hunting in the distant woods, but they brought back no game after Fergus got his cloak caught on a tree branch.

"In mah defense, yer trees are much shorter than th' ones back home." said Fergus, taking a chair and dragging it next to his wife. After he sat down, he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "Evenin' love. How was yer day?"

"Fine, till the wind blew in a tumultuous amount of noise through the door."

Fergus gave a breathy laugh at her, showing his kiddish attitude.

"Oh, and I believe your sons need to review the proper behavior when in public."

"Ah, so that was you! Ah was wonderin' why th' butcher was so upset when we went ta meet him!" he puffed out another round of laughing before allowing his wife to speak again.

"That was ENTIRELY your fault." she said, turning her head toward the fire so she couldn't see him.

Fergus stopped laughing. "But ah wasn't even there that time."

"No, but I certainly didn't teach them to be the rambunctious little children they are. It must have been you, especially since you're still a child yourself."

The King gave a smaller laugh, then took his wife's cheek and turned her to face him so he could plant a small peck on her lips. "Sorry ye had a bad day, darlin'."

She gave him a small smile, but it fell when she turned to see Lord MacGuffin smirking at them both. Fergus let out a cough, then tried to change the subject.

"So..._ahem_...is everyone back yet?"

"Well, I know the Lord's wife and daughter are here, and I saw Brian and Catan slip in not too long before yourselves. Though I haven't seen Merida, Cathal or Hiccup."

"Hmm, they better get back soon. It's gettin' pretty dark out there." Lord MacGuffin said, looking toward the window.

Elinor turned her head as well, a subconscious worried look spreading across her face.

"Ah'm sure they'll be fine." said Fergus, trying to reassure his wife.

She nodded, remembering Merida's strength and determination. Cathal was a strong boy, he could pull himself through. And Hiccup?...Well, the others could help him out.

Just then the door swung open again, and one of the MacGuffins' servants walked in, followed by someone both the Queen and King recognized.

"A messenger from DunBroch." announced the servant, and he let the one behind him pass. A man wearing DunBroch's red and green plaid kilt grabbed a sealed letter from his pouch and held it out to the royal family. The Queen quickly stood and grabbed the letter. She began opening it just after thanking the messenger who bowed and left.

"It's from General Duncan**," said Elinor as she read from the parchment. Suddenly she drew in a quick breath, "Fergus! You have to read this!"

The King nearly toppled his chair over as he ran to his wife and took the letter. The Lord also stood, waiting for the news.

"Oh, dear." Fergus said. He turned to his wife, "We may have to cut out visit short."

She nodded and turned to spread the news, but when she opened the door, she was met with three laughing figures. It was the worst timing. Merida, Hiccup and Cathal were standing in the doorway, now confused about the solemn looks on the adults' faces.

*Scottish name meaning "rough"

**Scottish name meaning "brown warrior"


End file.
